Chapter 12 #2
“You weren’t meant to know. None of us were.
” Fionn held his gaze steadily. “And yet it answered you. I have spent the night with our mystics and oracles, and the only explanation they can give is that it happened because you are not intruders to this place. You were chosen by magic, but you were invited by me at the request of my hound.”
Juice rubbed a hand over his face. “So what, we’re supposed to stay here and play guardian at the gates? Leave our lives behind?”
“I didn’t say that,” Fionn said. “You have a choice to determine your own fate. But if you leave now, without finishing what you’ve begun… the realms will tear, and Tír na nóg will be no more. I have just returned home to my clan. My warriors. My son. I do not wish to leave them so soon.”
Viper’s fingers curled against the edge of the bench. This was spiraling into something they hadn’t signed up for, and he hadn’t the faintest idea how to proceed with this shit.
Expect the unexpected.
This took ‘the unexpected’ to a whole new level. Breach an insurgent compound? Easy fucking day. Escort a VIP through enemy territory? Same shit, different day. Guard the fabric of reality against mythic fuckery? That had never been in his briefing packets… until now.
Trace leaned around Juice to catch Viper’s eye.
“Fionn is right. I felt something strange the minute we stepped into this place. It’s like the land is, I don’t know, listening, maybe, or shifting.
It feels like something is hunting across the ley lines, maybe even along the track of the same one we breached. ”
Oisín tapped one finger on the table to draw their attention.
“One of our sentinels, Darragh, is tracking the vibrations. His latest report is that whatever this darkness is, it’s not of this realm.
One of our banshee sources told him they believe it was stirred by the blood price paid to free the king after the Dord Fiann sounded three times. ”
“Fucking fabulous,” Reaper grumbled.
Viper’s pulse kicked hard behind his ribs. They had stepped into a story without knowing the ending, and now fate was asking them to write the next chapter with their lives. He shifted his weight and said, “Okay. Say we agree to help. What’s the play?”
Oisín and Fionn shared a glance.
“First,” Fionn said, “you train. Not as warriors of your world, but as Fianna. You must understand the bond, the power, and the rules of this land before you can protect either.”
“Because like it or not,” Oisín added, “you are ours now, and this land does not easily give up what it claims.”
Easy day.
Easy fucking day.
Maybe if he repeated it in his head enough, he’d believe it. But for the first time in his life, Viper thought maybe the mantra that had kept him sane for so many missions was one to have one hell of a bad day at the office, and his reality as he knew it was never, ever going to return to normal.
Easy fucking day.
Trace leaned forward with his elbows braced on his knees. “You’re serious about this? You want my human brothers and my Grá Croí to train with our warriors? To run drills, spar, and learn our most sacred ancient battle tactics?”
Fionn nodded once. “Aye. But it’s not only sword and spear. They’ll learn the call of the land. They need to be skilled in magic woven into the very fabric of our existence. If they are to help us protect both realms, then they must belong to both worlds.”
“Sounds like we’re enrolling in goddamn magic boot camp.” Kaze dragged a hand through his hair. “Do we get badges and merit points? Maybe a sash with ‘Fianna-in-training’ stitched in glitter thread?”
Zero snorted. “Only you would ask for sparkly accessories during an interdimensional crisis.”
Ward was still and quiet beside Viper. His eyes locked on the flickering torches, unreadable. He could practically see the wheels turning in the man’s head. Viper bumped his knee lightly against Ward’s. “Say it.”
Ward blinked and looked at him. “Say what?”
“Whatever it is that’s caused that look on your face. Tell me.”
A faint frown pulled between Ward’s brows.
“If we’re being trained… and we’re Fianna now…
then what the hell does that mean for our lives back home?
I have lectures. Research. A life. I have…
responsibilities.” He glanced at Viper like he regretted the words the second they’d come out of his mouth, but he pushed on anyway. “So do you. All of you do.”
Viper grunted. “My only responsibility is keeping my men alive. That doesn’t change, whether it’s in Yemen or fairyland. I have no clue how to explain how we survived that volcano if we do figure out a way to go back.”
“But it does change.” Ward glanced at the others, turned more fully toward him, and lowered his voice.
“This isn’t black-ops like you guys are used to.
This is magic, destiny, and stuff none of us understand for fuck’s sake.
That’s not something you can plan or play around with.
You don’t get to call in an evac or medevac out of a divine calling. ”
“I’m not planning on needing an evac.” Did his Grá Croí really think he went into any battle expecting to lose?
Viper ruthlessly shoved aside the fact that the magic of this place was starting to affect his thoughts, because it had to be the magic and the mate bond that had him thinking of Ward as his Grá Croí and not as Ward, Sutherland, or the archeologist anymore.
“I’m planning on ending whatever the hell’s trying to tear this place apart so it doesn’t follow us back. ”
There weren’t many people who could glare at him quite like Ward was doing. “What if it already has?” The table went still. Ward’s voice had barely carried, but it rippled like a stone dropped in a pond.
Damn.
How he’s making me explain shit…
That’s more than a little hot.
Viper turned fully toward him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Ward said slowly, “what if the things slipping through the cracks in the veil here have already reached our real world? What if us going back just speeds it up?”
Well, fuck, I didn’t think of that.
Juice leaned forward. “Is that even impossible?”
“I don’t know.” Ward shrugged. “The runes on the stone flared. Like something was calling to them from both sides, but that could be just a thought in my head…” He glanced at Fionn and Oisín. “Right?”
“These are unprecedented times,” Fionn replied. “I have been away from Tír na nóg for a long time. Over time, things change.”
“That’s why you all should train,” Oisín said firmly. “So if the darkness comes to your world, you can fight it as you were meant to. Not as mortals, but as Fianna.”
Silence fell as they all contemplated what Fionn and Oisín had divulged.
Kaze clapped once. “Well, fuck me sideways with a glowing shillelagh. I guess we’re staying for training.”
Reaper rubbed his face. “I hate it when you make sense.”
“You love it when I make sense.”
“No, I tolerate it. Barely.”
Viper shook his head. If those two were arguing like a pair of toddlers, then he knew they were in a fairly decent head space. When Reaper or Kaze went silent, it was time to worry. He looked toward Fionn. “How long will it take to secure the veil?”
Fionn’s expression turned grave. “Until you bleed for this land and yours. Until both our realms know and remember your names.”
Viper’s stomach knotted. He had a feeling that time was coming fast. Too fast. He didn’t move as the fire cracked in the hearth, and that last sentence from Fionn curled around his spine like ice.
Until both our realms know and remember your names.
He’d spent his entire adult life making sure his name didn’t mean a damn thing to anyone.
Not officially. He didn’t have social media.
He worked hard to have no traceable footprints.
Just the name his men called him, and his official military records were highly redacted.
Now this place, and these people, wanted to make him known to everyone? Just the thought alone gave him hives.
No.
Fuck that.
I’m a SEAL who works in the shadows.
He rolled his shoulders once and squared his stance. “We’ll train.” His voice was flat. “But I need your word that if this shit spills into our world, you’ll give us what we need to contain it.”
“You have my oath,” Fionn said without hesitation. “The Fianna stand with their own.”
“Even the ones not born here?”
Fionn looked at Ward then. “Especially those people. They are the clans chosen by the land; they carry both the burden and the blessing of its protection above all others.”
Ward shifted uncomfortably beside him.
This is too much.
He didn’t say it aloud, but Viper heard it anyway in the slight tremble in his breath. He glanced down. His fingers flexed unconsciously toward Ward’s wrist, but he curled them into his thigh instead.
Not yet.
Not while everything is a shit show and danger lurks in the shadows of the realms.
“You’ll be assigned teachers tomorrow,” Oisín said, breaking the silence. “Your training will not be easy. This land will test you.” He glanced from Viper to Ward and back again to meet Viper’s gaze. “But if you continue to deny the gift you have been given, your bonds will test you more.”
The mark on Viper’s arm throbbed hard.
Of course it will.
Because nothing in this place is simple.
Why the fuck would it be simple?
Easy day… not.
Fate should have bought us dinner before shafting us in the ass with its lore and declarations.
Viper pinned the High King with a glare. “My people stay together. You will not separate my team, because we have always been stronger together. If you want our help, then we use our strongest asset—our unity.”
Oisín nodded. “You’ll train as a cohesive band. The bond between warriors matters to all, and we understand it well. It’s what makes you strong.”
“Right.” Kaze cracked his knuckles. “Guess we’re signing up for Mythical Warrior Boot Camp. Someone warn anyone who needs to know that I don’t do mornings without at least a gallon of coffee.”