December 29, 2014. 11:05am
Shrewsbury, Vermont, USA
Ériu
The Dagda fixed what he could. My hands were mostly healed, but for dark scars where the Bodach had slashed me. Those scars would never go away. Nor would the curse, apparently. The Dagda told me that the voices (and screams) would come back.
“The Bodach is one of the old powers of the Otherworld. When the Tuatha came to Annwn, we brought order and law, and the vengeful Fae were scattered to the winds.”
“The Bodach WAS one of the old powers,” I said with a tired smile.
The Dagda paused his business of stoppering his magical ointments and looked at me grimly. “Oh, he is not dead.”
“I exploded him, D.” I instantly regretted my words. “Sorry, I’ve always been clumsy with brevity.”
“D works just fine. But the Bodach is not dead. As long as you hear those voices in your head, there are more of them out there.”
“Nemain said that she wasn’t sure if there was more than one of him.”
The Dagda nodded. “I have had a theory about the Bodach for many years. I believe that there is one consciousness, but many bodies.”
“Like the Borg?” I asked.
He stared at me. “I do not know what that is.”
“Like a hive-mind. It’s not good.”
“No, it is not. The voices will grow louder the closer a Bodach gets. You can sense him, and he can sense you. He will HUNT you.”
“The voices are the children he has abducted, aren’t they?”
“Yes, that is the way he spreads his consciousness. He would likely have made Jamie into one of himself.”
I thought about how many Bodach there might be after thousands of years of stealing young. It was frightening.
A moment of silence passed as we both thought about the boogeyman. Then, the realization that I was standing there with Bres’ father-in-law occurred to me. “Why did you leave?”
He gave a half-smile, like he had expected this topic to come up. “The Cauldron was stolen, and my people began migrating here.”
“Will you stay here with the púca?”
“Likely not. I have been checking on the different camps of refugees, but I will go home soon. How serendipitous that I was around to put you back together.”
“I’m starting to believe that it’s not chance or serendipity.”
“Go on,” he said, with an encouraging look.
I couldn’t help but think I was coming to some sort of conclusion that The Dagda fed to me indirectly. But he just waited patiently for me to continue.
“I mean…for the last nine days I've been running around this world and the other. I’ve bumped into gods and discovered relics.”
“Speaking of which…”
I sighed, thinking about Cai with the Stone of Destiny. “I was going to say that things just seem to HAPPEN to me lately.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Things like meeting the god of magic on the Long Trail?” he asked with a laugh.
“Yes. Pretty much exactly like that.”
The Dagda took a deep breath of crisp mountain air and looked down the hill at the púca children playing in the snow. “Can I tell you what I think? I think you are something very, very rare.”
“Yeah, Morias always told me I was a piece of work. But somehow I think you’re talking about something else.”
The Dagda looked serious. “Most of us were born to represent an aspect, or domain, of the living world. My domain is a bit more esoteric, but the domains of my family are aspects of life in both worlds. Hunting, Love, Harvest.”
“War,” I said, interrupting. He nodded.
“All of those things are singular and complete by themselves.” He paused, clearly thinking about his next words. “There are, however, certain aspects of life that must occur in pairs.”
Something clicked in my mind. Maybe it was because I was always fond of the Taoist concept of Yin and Yang, but what he said made sense. I thought of the goddess of Life and the god of Death. “Like Danu and Donn?” I asked.
“Precisely. We call that a duality. It is very rare in our…pantheon.”
I squirmed, starting to pick up what he was alluding to “Are you saying that I am part of a duality?”
“It is possible.”
I thought about his words for a few long moments. If what he and Nemain said was true, by my leaving Annwn, I had tipped the scale toward chaos in a world that needed anything but. A wave of guilt swept over me and it was suddenly hard to breathe.
Our conversation was interrupted by shouts. I instinctively sprinted toward the source. A crowd of púca were moving away from the river’s edge. I worried, only briefly, that I had once again left my armor and dagger behind. I hadn’t had a chance to put everything back on yet.
I counted the children as they moved past me. All accounted for. I saw Jamie pause as I passed him, but I kept running toward the source of the noise. I could see a figure on the river’s edge.
I flared the blue light of my energy boon in both hands. Whatever it was, It was small. It had wings. And it was a she. I stopped just short of attacking and studied the Fae being as she turned.
“Fíadan?” I asked, as I saw my favorite Ellyllon fairy.
Fíadan stared at me, shock registering on her face. “What the hell? Bren! You look like chet.”
I dropped to her level and wrapped her up into the biggest hug I could remember ever having given. Once her surprise passed, she returned the embrace. We stood there for a long time. Eventually, she tapped on my shoulder.
“You trying to replace me?” she asked, pointing behind me. Jamie stood there with a rock in his hand. She turned to face him fully and raised an eyebrow. “Were you gonna throw that at me, pipsqueak?”
Jamie looked bashful and dropped the rock, having seen that Fíadan was a friend of mine. The Dagda walked up behind the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Hello, Fíadan,” he said to the fairy. When she saw him, she immediately dropped to both knees in a gesture I hadn’t seen from her since Gorias. “I take it Brigid sent you looking for me?”
Fíadan rose to hover off the ground and came closer to The Dagda. “Yes, Lord. I am pleased that you are not…”
He place a hand gently on her cheek. She closed her eyes. “I know about Bres, my dear,” he said in a gentle tone. “I felt it the way I felt the genesis of Bren the night of the Cold Moon. I did not believe that this rebellion would go this far. But I was wrong.”
Tears ran down Fíadan’s face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect him, Lord.”
The Dagda used both hands to cradle her small wet face. “Now, now. There is enough sorrow in the world without the last Ellyllon of High King Bres believing she did anything other than fulfill her solemn duty.”
I didn’t say anything. I just gave them their time. To Jaime’s credit, he did the same. But he had come to my side and reached up to briefly squeeze my hand. The Dagda withdrew his hands, and Fíadan wiped her wet face with her sleeve. She turned to me.
“It is good that you are here.” She looked back to the Dagda. “It is good you are both here…The Fomorians have taken Flamebright.”
I felt guilt rise inside me again. Like before, it stole the breath from my lungs and caused the blood to rush to my cheeks.
The Dagda came to stand next to me. “What of Brigid and the rest of the family?”
“Brigid left for Falias with Tadg the same time I set out with Ruadan,” I said before Fíadan could respond. “But what of Morias? He had agreed to stay on in Caisleán Saighead at the request of the former Queen.”
Fí adopted the angry, impatient look I had missed so much. “All I know is that the flaming arrow no longer flies from the ramparts of the castle. But we need to go. NOW!”
She pulled a green gem from within her clothes and used it to slash the space in front of her. A rip in the air opened where she had waved the gem.
“I see you have at least one more use of the gem I gave you,” The Dagda said and went to stand with Fíadan. He turned and they both looked at me, waiting.
My whole body froze. I couldn’t breath. The burning in my cheeks seemed to fill my entire body. Inadequacy, guilt, worry, duty, and friendship warred inside of me for dominance.
I thought of all of the reasons I had for coming back to Earth. I was hunted, injured, and completely out of my element the whole time I was in Annwn. I had nearly been killed multiple times.
There was a nudge at my side and I looked down to see Jaime. He held my dagger and my armor in his arms, and offered them up to me.
“Now you can go beat the rest of the bad guys.”