Day 7 of Midwinter, Sunrise

In the Wild, Emain Ablach

Annwn

After we made camp for the night, the Morrigan was able to finish her tale. After the spear struck Lugh, Cai had recalled the weapon, and both sides had regrouped. Ruadan had been nowhere to be seen. The Morrigan watched Tethra carry Cai away as she held Lugh in her arms, hugging him to her as he bled out.

After she finished the tale, she gave me permission to use her given name, Nemain. It seemed The Morrigan was something like a title. She didn’t offer any more specifics.

We slept that night in a grove of trees. It was a troubled night’s sleep. I woke up so often it felt like I didn’t sleep at all. It must have been the same for The Morrigan, as she began packing up the camp even before the sun had risen over the horizon.

When I finally woke in full, I lay there a while, staring at the lightening sky. I was warm beneath my cloak, but I could feel the chill air just on the other side of the fabric. A layer of dew coated everything. I could see my breath in the morning air.

“Cloudfair is not Flamebright,” were Nemain’s first words to me that morning. “We are not ruled by allure and nostalgia.”

It was clear that she had spent some time thinking about my time in Gorias. I, on the other hand, had just woken up. I stretched and yawned. “I don’t know much about Findrias.”

I heard her chain hit the ground and immediately moved into a defensive position, but I no longer had the Stone to block the coming attack. My armor lay in a pile next to where I had slept. I saw the chain whip hurtling toward me a split second before I erratically dodged out of the way. Though I pictured myself like Morpheus or Neo dodging Agent Smith’s bullets, I had a feeling I looked more like the Star Wars kid twirling a fake light saber, barely able to stay on my feet.

A second whip attack came almost immediately after the first. Again, I managed to stumble out of the way.

“Cloudfair does not suffer the passive.” She came forward again, this time with her athame. Something happened then that I wasn’t expecting. I saw the familiar bluish glow around my right hand, but also, outside of arm’s reach, a bluish sheen in an arc around me. The magic arc sparked when the dagger connected with it. It turned Nemain’s wrist at an odd angle, and she dropped the blade.

“Nicely done,” she announced, and stood upright, no longer in an attack position. “Though from the looks of things, you didn’t know you could do that.” She nodded at me and went back to packing up the camp.

I just stood there, panting and confused. Had she been testing me? What if I hadn’t blocked the attacks? Would she have actually stabbed me?

Without looking at me, Nemain called out, “Just so you know, I would have stabbed you had you not blocked my attack.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The morning and afternoon went on like that for a time, with Nemain attacking without warning when I least expected it. I counted three such unprovoked attacks throughout the day. She ended each with a lecture either criticizing my fighting stance or about how passive individuals (she meant ME, clearly) wouldn’t survive in Findrias.

Near twilight, we made camp in a shallow rock overhang and shared some rations. If all went well, by the next afternoon, we would be strolling into Cloudfair, where we would be welcomed by Nemain’s immediate family. She shared that two first generation Tuatha lived in Findrias. Cian and Ernmas and their respective families made up the High Council. They operated as a governing arm of the High King, who resided in Falias. I would also meet Nemain’s sisters: Macha, Badb, and Ériu. Nemain would have to share the tragic news of Lugh’s death, and the Council would decide their next course of action.

I hardly slept that night, despite being exhausted after walking all day and fending off Nemain’s “training” exercises. I dozed with my dagger gripped in my hand, not knowing if Nemain might attack again while I slept. The coming and goings of Monty throughout the night was enough to make me flinch awake when I did manage to fall asleep.

It was still dark when I gave up. Monty was away hunting. The world was in that hour where even the birds and insects were quiet. The land was still and had a chill in the air. I wrapped my coat more tightly around me and added some wood to the fire. Then I sat, looking out at the sparsely wooded landscape. I had my back to the wall of the cave when I began to see movement in the distance.

A solitary figure walked over the hills and through the trees. It was just dark enough that I couldn’t make out any features, but I saw it turn and look back in my direction. It stood still, simply gazing at me for some time. It held what looked like a bowling-ball-sized rock under its arm. After a time, the figure added the rock to a growing pile, then repeated this action many times.

“It is the Bodach.” I jumped at Nemain’s voice, coming from the other side of the fire. I hadn’t known she was awake.

“Who is the Bodach?”

“Your people call him the boogeyman,” she said.

“My people?”

“You lived on Earth, did you not?” she asked, already knowing the answer. “Sometimes he appears as a shadow, sometimes a man. We think he is a Fae, perhaps a powerful one, but there are times we hear reports of multiple Bodach sightings from all around Annwn in one night…even across the veil in your world.”

“So there are more than one of him?”

“No one is sure.”

“What is he doing?

“He is keeping himself busy until you go to sleep.”

“Well…NOW I’m not going to sleep at all. Thanks a lot.” I pulled my cloak tighter around me.

Nemain sat up and looked out at the Bodach. “He is constructing a rath, a mound that he can use to enter your world. You will see rock piles and fully finished mounds all over these hills.”

We sat in silence for a while, watching the Bodach build his rath. In a softer voice, she added, “Some say a Bodach sighting is a portent of ill tidings.”

I just shook my head as the words of The Dagda found me.

Name: Bren Búachaill

Race: Undetermined

Current Power Rank - Level 8

Current Progression Status:

Physical Progression +10

(currently bound by Power Rank Level)

Mental Progression +5

(currently bound by Power Rank Level)

Spiritual Progression +9

(currently bound by Power Rank Level)

You have been gifted with the following boons:

Control Energy

Erratic Agility

Minor Cavern Vision

Four magic items are in your possession.

You have acquired:

The Rings of Identification

Urias’ Meshmail of Adaptation

The Dagger of Transmogrification

Fernawen’s Shell of Promise

You have one unbound minion:

Monty, oilliphéist