Chapter 20
20
Unseelie Court
Cernunnos strode through the outlying forest surrounding King Oberon’s castle. He had looked for Morrigan’s granddaughter everywhere and found no trace of the girl. With his frustration mounting and time disappearing, he turned to the one place where he always found solace. The trees. Their spirits were soothing when his soul was in complete chaos, as it is right now.
It was only a matter of time before the king decided he had had enough of a nature god roaming through his kingdom. Nature and the Unseelie Court had never meshed well, the latter more of a prison until the Wild Hunt. That was usually the only time Oberon allowed gods and goddesses like Cernunnos to enter his realm. This, however, took precedent. It had taken way too long to convince the stubborn Fae to let him search for Morgan and his reasoning behind it. Fer-Diorich.
Oberon knew the Dark Fae well and had, at times, even used his services, but when the king realized the extent of Fer-Diorich’s reach, he was livid. Only the promise of bringing his queen to visit had calmed the Fae royal down. That, and the fact that the Multiverse would implode or explode, no one had been very clear about how everything ended.
He inhaled, letting the soothing scent of the trees fill his lungs before trudging through the castle again. He had to find her.
On a sudden hunch, he recrossed the massive stone bridge and turned toward the dungeon entrance. It was the only place he had not been allowed to go to and probably the one place Morgan was.
His only problem would be getting past the guards—demons who were very good at what they did. These two, though, were from the lowest rank in the demon hierarchy. They weren’t full demons, nor were they imps. They were in-between demons.
He stopped in front of the two idiots and stared at them until they began to fidget. The one on his left kept rocking side to side and switching his long-handled axe from hand to hand in front of him. The other demon was a bit smarter and stood still, his heavy red gaze never leaving Cernunnos’s face.
“I see you are still not following your king’s command to let me into the dungeon,” Cernunnos stated, keeping his tone bored. “Do I need to summon him so you can hear the order directly?”
“Yes,” the agitated demon to his left snapped.
Cernunnos slowly turned his heavy stare on him and raised one brow. “Then I assume you are prepared to be replaced and returned to the Hell Hole in Dark World? The demon king will be pleased to get you back. I hear the guardian is devouring the evil souls at an alarming rate, and King Lucien requires more to keep Tempus in the Well of Souls and not roaming the Multiverse. He escaped as a youth, and it took Gaia forever to discover his whereabouts and return him to the Well.”
Waving his hand in front of the demon’s pale face, which was extraordinary for a Summoned whose skin was always a dark red, he feigned nonchalance and waited for them to open the heavily spelled wooden door behind them.
He made a mental note to ask Oberon how he managed to keep the Summoned from going berserk. Normally, rage ate away their brain, but these two seemed relatively calm for cursed demons.
“Fine,” the slightly more intelligent demon snapped and reached for the door handle. “But if we discover the king never permitted you to enter the dungeon, I will gladly lock you inside. I don’t care who you are or what pantheon you’re from. I don’t like you.”
The door swung open with a loud screech. The second he stepped inside, it slammed shut behind him. He smiled, knowing the king would kill them if they dared interfere in his alone time with Queen Tatania. As long as she remained in the Unseelie Court, he would be safe.
Making his way down the long staircase as it spiraled lower into the massive dungeon, he stepped off on the first level. He checked the hundreds of cells lining the single corridor but only found minimum security prisoners. They were the people Oberon didn’t want to see or hear from, not that they had done anything wrong.
He checked the next four levels, but his frustration reached an all-time high after the fifth. There had to be a better way to do this. With hundreds of levels still ahead, he was out of time and patience. Heading back to the staircase, he closed his eyes and focused on sensing anything that didn’t belong.
The first trace was so vague that he almost ignored it. Magic was prohibited in the dungeons, but this presence was so faint, it could have just been the residue left by a previous prisoner until he sensed a feminine touch carrying the magic.
While it wasn’t unusual for Oberon to lock up females, letting one keep her powers was unheard of. For the first time since entering the damned court, a glimmer of hope appeared as he followed the faint magical trace to one of the lowest levels—the ones saved for the worst offenders and the darkest souls.
He closed his eyes, hoping he wasn’t sensing Morgan’s dying powers. Ceridwen would never forgive him for not saving one of her best friend’s granddaughters. Praying this journey had not been in vain, he laid his palm over the plaque on the door. “Na h-anaman a dhìochuimhnich,” he whispered in Gaelic. This was home to the forgotten souls.
He tried to open the door, but the wrought iron handle didn’t budge. He squeezed harder, but the mechanism remained locked. “Damn it, Oberon. You need to maintain the dungeon better than this,” he grumbled and did the only thing he could. He knocked.
Ignoring the sharp pain in his knuckles as they struck the metal door, he waited. Just as his patience disappeared, he raised his fist to bang on it again when he heard a scraping of metal against metal from the other side of the door.
“I’m here on the king’s orders to search this level,” he shouted, hoping whoever it was could hear him through the thick metal.
The latch keeping the small window shut slid to one side and slowly opened. A bright light hit him in the eyes, momentarily blinding him. As it faded to hazy black dots, he caught a glimpse of a shadowed head through the window.
“I’m here on the king’s busin?—”
“I heard you the first time,” a female voice snapped. “Who are you searching for and why?”
His vision cleared, and he recognized the face staring back at him. “Finally, I found you.”
Morgan’s black eyebrows rose in surprise, but she quickly recovered. “Why are you searching for me?”
“Please let me in, and I will explain everything. I don’t want the entire Unseelie Court, including the Dark Fae, to know I’m here.”
She hesitated for only a second and then whispered something under her breath. The door handle grew warm under his palm but not hot. He squeezed the thumb lever and the door swung inward.
Stepping inside, he closed it behind him and found himself staring at Morgan and what seemed to be the entire level’s prisoner population.
“Well, this is unexpected,” he said, his gaze dropping to hers. “You are the spitting image of your grandmother.”
Her eyebrows rose for the second time, but she smiled. “Thank you. Since I consider my grandmother to be beautiful, I will take that as a compliment.” All emotion disappeared from her face and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Now, for the third time, who are you and why are you here?”
He bowed from the waist. “I am known as Cernunnos. Ceridwen sent me here to find you and get you back to the human realm before Fer-Diorich can escape and do something equally horrid to your sister.”
“Oh, thank the gods.” She breathed a sigh of relief and covered her heart with one hand. “So, my sister is safe?”
“As far as I know, she is. I have been in this damned court for way too long searching for you and have no idea how much time has passed in your world. Since I’m still alive, I can assume nothing has happened yet.”
Morgan smiled, her pretty face transforming into such beauty. “You have a sense of humor, unlike most people, well, the wolves, I’m usually around. I like you. Can you please break me out of here and get me back wherever I’m supposed to go?”
While he would never voice it aloud, this petite woman standing before him was even more potent than Morrigan. He liked his head where it was so that thought would remain forever buried in his mind. “Yes, but first, why is everyone patiently standing behind you? Do you know where you even are?”
With a glance over her shoulder, she met his gaze and nodded. “This is one of the deepest levels in the Unseelie Court dungeon. Fer-Diorich sent me here after Bres tricked me into reading a spell—a spell, I might add, that I never spoke. I skimmed over the words in my mind, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of the Dark Fae himself.”
Cernunnos’s gaze moved over the hundreds of people standing behind her. “Why are they just standing there?”
“Well, when I arrived, a few of the more evil and dumber prisoners were bullying the others housed here, and I couldn’t let that continue. So, I stole their power and locked them up. The ones behind me helped me by lending me their energy. I guess you can say they are my friends.”
“The forgotten ones,” he whispered. “They are the wrongfully condemned, and by believing in them, Morgan DuBois, you have given them their freedom.” He grinned. “King Oberon isn’t going to be very happy with you.”
She shrugged. “No one ever is. I seem to get into a lot of trouble, even though I’m never trying to. I help someone, and the next thing I know, Ironclaws are either eviscerating me, or I’m sent to prison. Go figure.”
He chuckled. “Would you like to do the honors or should I?” With a flick of one hand, he motioned to the prisoners behind her.
She turned and laid her hands over those of the two elves standing behind her. “Go to your new co-regents, Lamruil and Ailuin Vakas. Explain to them what happened, and they will help you. Tell them Morrigan’s granddaughter sent you.”
They bowed, touching their foreheads to the backs of her hands, and then stood. “Thank you, Morgan. It has been a long time since anyone believed in us. If you ever have need, we will come.”
She smiled. “Go home and live once more, my friends.” She raised her arms, spreading them wide and smiled. “Go, all of you. Live good lives and find happiness.” With a sharp hand clap, the prisoners disappeared, leaving a long, empty hall in front of them.
In the distance, he heard various bangs and metal clanging against metal. Probably the bullies she referred to earlier. He grinned at her, amazed at this one small woman’s strength and fortitude.
“Not many people surprise me, Morgan DuBois, but you have. You are, indeed, worthy of your grandmother’s name. Morrigan would be proud to see you now.”
She blushed, the slight pink in her cheeks very becoming. “Thank you. I’m still learning my powers, but hearing someone say something positive every once in a while, instead of ‘ You’re not doing that right,’ or ‘No, do it this way ,’ is refreshing.”
“I take it you have a taskmaster—someone who is very hard to please?”
She nodded. “Boy, do I. But,” she wrinkled her nose and gave him an impish grin, “he’s also really cute and kisses like a dream.”
Cernunnos let out a bark of laughter. After a few minutes, he finally shook his head. “Not touching that one. Now, how about we get you back to your body?”
She frowned and glanced down. With one finger, she stabbed at her arm and abdomen a couple of times before meeting his gaze. “What am I wearing if I’m not in my body?”
“That’s your inner spirit—your soul, so to speak.”
“Oh. Well, let’s get on with it then. As my mom used to say, “Places to go, people to see.”
He held out his hand. When her palm touched his, the dungeon became a whirlwind of drab colors and was immediately replaced with the heavens. Massive planets flew by, some with orbiting moons, others with rings.
They passed through colorful galaxies of various shapes. He pointed out the many beautiful nebulae and star clusters within each galaxy.
“I know what one,” Morgan said, pointing to a doughnut-shaped area surrounding a massive sun. “That’s the Kuiper Belt, isn’t it? It has icy comets, planets, moons and who knows what else there. We’re almost in my galaxy, aren’t we?”
“We are.”
“Cernunnos, please tell me more about the Unseelie dungeon. Why was my level different? Why were innocents locked up?”
“King Oberon knew his dungeon could hold the most and the worst of all prisoners because of how the courts were created. There are hundreds of levels housing serial murderers, uncontrollable monsters, and even mages who turned to dark magic. Some, definitely worse than others.”
He noticed her shivering and pulled her closer, creating a heavy coat from the space dust surrounding them.
She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. It was getting rather chilly.”
He laughed. “An understatement, but I’ll take it. Now, to answer your question. The prisoners were from every realm in the Multiverse and could not be contained in any other prison. What makes the Unseelie Court’s dungeon so inescapable are the magical wards provided by all pantheons. Even Surtr, the Muspelheimr fire god from the Norse pantheon, added his own. As a primordial god, his powers are stronger than even the strongest of gods and, I believe, are what holds the dungeon in stasis—or, without magic.”
Morgan shook her head. “No, there is still magic. A lot of it. It’s just bound. I could feel the energy swirling around me when I arrived, but it was…untouchable. You know how we can reach out and pull magic from the energy around us? I couldn’t do that in there.”
“Then how did you take the evil ones’ magic and use the other prisoners’?”
“I’m not sure. When I touched Arun’s arm, I began pulling his energy. The other elf, Tannyll, grabbed my arm to sever the connection, but like electricity, couldn’t let go. Arun actually figured it out and yelled at all the prisoners—not the bad ones, of course—to touch. Let’s just say I now know what a charged battery feels like. My hair stood on end for hours, but it was enough juice for me to zap the bullies’ magic and lock them away.”
“Impressive.”
She chuckled. “No, just lucky, but I’ll take it.”
The earth loomed into view, and she pointed to northern Europe. “There! Rafael, Makari, and I were inside a mountain in Austria—the ice cave one. Eisreis something.”
“Eisreisenwelt Caverns?”
“That’s it! Should we go there?”
“Probably a good idea. Until I know which spell the little twirp used, you might be in spirit form for a while, but it would be good to see if your body is still there. And let the others who were with you know you are safe.”
* * *
Morgan pulled the coat tighter around her body and worried about how fast they were approaching the planet. It was a dizzying speed. As the Alps came into view, they didn’t seem to be slowing either, which made breathing a bit difficult as her anxiety blossomed. “Um, can we slow down a little? Fast is great and all, but after being saved from the Unseelie dungeons, I don’t want to be speared by a mountain peak.”
The god’s laughter echoed around them. “You are amusing, little one. Very amusing. I might have to visit Earth more often if you’re there.”
“Not sure where I’ll end up, but you are more than welcome,” she said, not wanting to insult the powerful nature god. He was intimidating, but there was something sweet about him, too. She could see why Ceridwen had fallen for him. Although, truthfully, neither one probably knew how the other felt.
Maybe that was something she could help them with after this craziness was over, and she, her twin, and her long-awaited niece and nephew were safe.
More than anything, she wanted to squeeze her eyes shut as the earth spun around them. She felt rather than saw Cernunnos’s muscles bunch as if getting ready to pounce. Sadly, the realization came a second after he pounced. Their destination spun toward them, and like jumping off a merry-go-round, he sped toward the tall mountain.
He pushed out his legs, his feet stretched as if pressing brake pedals. Their bodies slowed, and he jerked them downward, landing them in the ice cave’s opening. Their momentum was still fast enough to propel them forward as they stumbled into the cave.
Stepping away, she dropped to the ice-covered floor and closed her eyes, her lungs working overtime. Ice filled her nostrils, so freezing, it felt as if the sensitive skin were burning. She forced her lungs to slow down, letting the adrenaline surge abate. “Just leave me here. I’ll catch up,” she gasped out the words.
The god moved to stand in front of her and grabbed her arms, pulling her up into a stand. “No, little Fae, you need to get to your body. The longer your spirit is separated, the more difficult it will be to return.”
She scowled up at him, noticing how handsome he was. “You know, a little hair product and your curls would be smooth and adorable. I think Ceridwen likes your hair.”
His brown brows rose. “You do? She does? Why do you think that?”
Morgan smiled. “Because she’s always looking at your hair like she wants to run her fingers through it. I did the same thing with Rafael. He has perfect hair—like a pirate.”
He shook his head. “I will never understand women. Now, where were you when you were separated from your body? Can you picture it in your mind?”
She nodded. “I can, but if you tell me you’ve been able to see inside my mind and read my thoughts this entire time, I will rescind my invitation for you to visit.”
He chuckled. “It doesn’t work that way. If you send me the image, I can see it. Everything else will remain blissfully invisible. The last thing I want is to see inside other people’s minds. That’s a surefire way to go crazy.”
“Can’t disagree with that. Total logic. Logic is how I stay sane. Just don’t talk to my twin. Gwyn is the opposite of logical.” Closing her eyes, she pulled up the image of the cavern. The dark earthen walls, the narrow crevice she had to climb through, even the stone pedestal in the center of the room with the ancient book lying open on top.
“I can work with that. You have a good memory,” he whispered in her ear. “Open your eyes and tell me what you see, little Fae.”
She did and the first thing she saw was Rafael in wolf form standing in front of the pedestal, staring at her. Well, staring at her body. “Rafael!” she squealed and ran toward him.
His gaze darted to hers and swung back and forth between her body and her spirit. Relief spread over his face as she ran toward him. He opened his arms to her, but instead of stopping, she ran through him and skidded to a stop just before face-planting against the cave wall behind him.