Chapter Two
Morrigan and her Tuatha De Danann guide stepped from the portal they’d travelled through, and they walked a few feet till the whirl closed.
Morrigan sighed. “Where do I start now?”
The Tua monk half smiled. “You want to help people now? Haven’t you caused enough chaos for the Earth people in your time?”
Morrigan felt a deep guilt in the pit of her stomach.
“I’ve always tried to help the Earth people.
This is no fault of the wolf’s. My brother Balor wanted to take over the Earth, and I had to help banish him.
Then Brogan got thrown through the portal, and I promised I would try to find her.
” Morrigan looked in the distance and said, “I…is that smoke over at the caves?”
The monk looked and said, “I must get to them.”
Morrigan said, “I can get there more quickly.”
She closed her eyes and pictured the cathedral of caves in her mind’s eye and felt her body shiver. When Morrigan opened her eyes again, she found herself at the caves of Danu. Tua monks were clearing up burned trees and blasted stone.
“We were attacked,” a voice behind Morrigan said.
She recognized the gravelly, aged voice immediately: Vorka, the matriarch of the Tua monks.
Morrigan turned around and saw Vorka sitting cross-legged in front of the statue of the Goddess Danu. The Goddess they worshipped.
Vorka was long lived and battle hardened from the life she’d lived before becoming the head of the Danu monks and the portal guardians.
Her hair was mainly white, interspersed with a few remaining black hairs, and it framed her dark skin.
Vorka’s face bore a long scar that ran down her cheek to her nose.
Even with her great age, she was still beautiful and had a powerful presence.
“Morrigan, you find us in a poor situation indeed. Have you finished interfering with the people of Earth?”
“I wasn’t interfering, Vorka. I gave that up long ago.”
“When you were leading armies against each other, or when they stopped worshipping you as a god?”
“I only tried to help rally communities when they were being threatened. I have a soft spot for the people of Earth, but when I realized I was doing more harm than good, I stopped. I didn’t want to be a false god like the Abnobians.
Although I may have given some old friends a hint to stop Balor taking over.
He would have destroyed and enslaved their world. ”
Vorka smiled. “I know that. You forget, I see many things, Morrigan.”
Morrigan had always liked Vorka. Even if you made mistakes, she was willing to see past those mistakes.
“You forget that the Tuatha De Danann made similar mistakes a long time ago. We showed too much of ourselves, and the Celtic peoples of Earth treated us like gods. Then we came up with a code of conduct to protect the natural evolution of civilizations, as the Goddess Danu wanted us to.”
Vorka pointed to a stick with a round globe on top, with ancient writing on it.
“Hand me my stick, Morrigan.”
Morrigan handed it to her and helped her up.
The monk Nuada caught up with them. “What happened, Vorka?”
Vorka placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We concealed ourselves. Davor sent a team to try to capture the Map Keeper.”
“They didn’t—” Nuada started to say.
“No, she got to the portal.”
“Thank Danu. Hopefully she’s far away by now.”
“This is a new push to get to Camber. We need to be prepared.”
Nuada nodded and bowed his head. “I’ll go and help with the clear up.”
Morrigan followed Vorka as she started to walk. “I sent Nuada to help you with Balor. I saw in my visions that a witch was helping Balor escape his prison.”
Morrigan nodded. “It gave me a chance to help make up for some of the…misunderstandings I may have caused on Earth.”
Vorka laughed. “Misunderstandings, yes. There’s a reason your people are known as the tricksters of our worlds.”
“No tricks this time. I’m determined to go straight,” Morrigan said.
“If you’re looking to help, there is always a spot for you with our portal guardians, although I don’t know what your mother would think of that.”
Morrigan offered Vorka her arm. “The thought of my mother being annoyed by it would make me more inclined to do it.”
They walked into one of the caves where the Tua were clearing the damage, and Vorka sat on a boulder beside a statue.
“How long since you’ve been home?” Vorka asked.
“Quite a while. I would help you, Vorka. You have always given me a fair chance, but I have a promise to keep to my new friends. In the final battle with Balor, an Irish werewolf got thrown from the Evergreen through the portal. I promised I would try to find her.”
“Without a clear idea where the wolf was heading, she could be anywhere,” Vorka said.
Morrigan sighed. “I know, but I need to try.”
“We have people all over. I’ll put the word out.”
“Thanks, Vorka. I hope you find the Map Keeper, If the Abnobians are bent on expansion, it’s not good for anyone.”
“No. Unfortunately I fear there may be darkness ahead.” She looked up at the statue of two figures caught in an embrace.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
One of the other monks, a female named Lindy, came rushing into the cave. “Vorka, the Map Keeper has been spotted being chased by the Abnobians. She was penned in, and a wolf jumped into the fight. The wolf fought off the pursuers, and Camber jumped through a portal, the wolf following her.”
“Could that be the wolf you’re looking for?” Vorka asked.
“It sounds like it,” Morrigan replied.
Lindy shook her head. “What if it was a lone wolf bounty hunter? She could find and take her to the Abnobians.”
“Was there anything unusual about the wolf?” Morrigan asked.
“Ugh…she was wearing unusual clothes,” Lindy said.
“That’s her, that’s Brogan.”
“She could be anywhere,” Lindy said. “She followed Camber through a portal. Camber was running from her.”
Vorka sighed. “And Camber is good at running. She probably thinks your Brogan is a bounty hunter.”
“Where do I start?” Morrigan asked dejectedly.
“We need to gather our portal guardians. If you join them, you’ll have a chance of finding her. I can’t put out a call for assembly because the Abnobians will be monitoring us, but I can tell you where to find the first two, and they should lead you to the others.”
“Thank you, Vorka.”
“Try putting your trickster days behind you. Being a portal guardian may suit you.”
Morrigan laughed. “I don’t think I’m that good, but just once it might be nice to help.”
“Very well. Let me get the details for the world where you’ll find the first two guardians.”
Morrigan was determined to bring Brogan home to her friends. Her secret was she loved Earth, and she’d tried to protect the humans by calling them to arms, to protect their villages and cities. But afterwards, as Morrigan walked the killing fields, the dead weighed heavily on her conscience.
Maybe after this quest she could actually feel good about herself for once.
She thought Brogan had met the Map Keeper.
Brogan jumped from rooftop to rooftop, gaining distance on the guards following her, shooting as they went. It wasn’t long since she arrived in the marketplace, that she realized she stood out like a sore thumb amongst these people.
They stared at her T-shirt and jeans and saw someone completely out of place. Soon the guards noticed her, and she ran. She had no idea if they were good, bad, or indifferent, but running seemed like a good idea.
That idea was reinforced when they started shooting at her with the same sort of energy weapon they tried to shoot the girl with.
Brogan was too swift for them and found a lower part of the roof where she could crouch and hide. She waited for them to catch up and rush by. They had no idea where she was. After a few minutes, Brogan felt safe enough to come out from hiding.
This was a lot like what she had been doing to make a living since she left her home pack in Ireland. She was a tracker, an investigator. That gave her the ability to live for her passion—painting.
She clambered up higher on the roof and still crouched, took in the air. Her head rolled back a few inches, and the scents in the air lit up her wolf olfactory system. The air was alive with the spices, herbs, fruit, and meat—not to mention, people—at that market.
Brogan had to filter out all these to try to find that one scent that had lit up her brain and shortened her breath when she first arrived. It was difficult. To be right next to the market, surrounded by a large concentration of people.
She shook her head in frustration. Why am I even doing this?
But what other choice did she have? Brogan had landed the Great Mother didn’t know where, and this woman appeared to know her way around these strange portals. She could be Brogan’s only way home.
Think. Where would I go?
The girl was obviously used to running, so she would have a few tricks up her sleeve. In the animal world they covered scent trails with other animals’ scents.
Being a market town, with no technology like they had on Earth, animals must be the transport. Horses, camels, something like that.
Brogan tried again, this time searching for the distinctive scent of barns or stables.
She caught a strong scent of animals. More than one or two. Brogan crept across the rooftops as quietly as she could.
The guards had drifted away, but she was in no doubt there would be more. It was strange, Brogan thought, that the guards had high-tech guns on a world that was pre-technology.
Brogan was nearing what she thought was a barn. She stopped and took in the air. The scent was multilayered on her wolf’s nose, and Brogan began to strip away the animal scents until something emerged. It was the scent of the woman.
She moved quickly to the barn, where there was a small window at the top of the roof. Brogan saw straw and saw animals, not too dissimilar to horses. They were double the size, but with much shorter faces, and instead of hooves, they had splayed out claws.
That is some animal, Brogan thought.
Brogan spotted something else—the woman’s leather satchel next to some big bales of hay.
Got you.