Chapter 30 Sacrifice
The flight from the window down to the driveway could not have lasted more than five seconds, but Lizzie felt like she and Brun had fallen for minutes before they hit the ground. Somehow in that brief time, Brun flipped their bodies and she landed on top of him, while he slammed his back painfully on the wet gravel, wood splinters and shards of glass.
The rain and the thunders had stopped, now reduced to a fine drizzle.
A small blessing when two psychopaths are after you…
“Are you hurt?” he asked, still holding her flush against his body, his arms tightly wrapped around her like the straps of a parachute.
“I’m fine,” she checked her face and arms, wincing at the sting of fresh cuts and scrapes. Her hands became slick with blood, “I’m scared shitless, but fine.”
He helped her to her feet and she flinched when her right foot touched the ground, “I think I sprained my ankle, though.”
His jaws clenched, “This is not over yet,” he muttered, his eyes scanning the driveway. Then he rushed to where his sword had landed, “But it will end today.”
Sword in hand, he pulled a shard of glass from his left thigh and Lizzie gasped, praying that was a superficial cut. His face and arms were covered in scratches too.
But she had not time to evaluate their injuries, because a second later a blur fell from the broken window with a battle cry. Brun pushed her aside with such force that she found herself flying across the driveway before falling on her bottom several yards away in the middle of the hedges.
Brun was freakishly strong!
Struggling to free herself from the brambles, and earning additional scratches in the process, Lizzie heard the clanking of metal hitting metal.
When she finally got to her feet, what she witnessed was possibly the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her whole life.
It was one thing to read about wars and battles in fantasy and history books, or to watch them enacted in movies, but to see two men actually brandishing massive swords with deadly intent was something else entirely.
It was a life changing event.
Brun and Finn slashed and stabbed at each other, bellowing and grunting at the effort of swinging their heavy swords. Still they moved faster than it was humanly possible, fuelled by their Changeling magic. At times it was like watching the dance of two shapeless blurs spinning around each other.
Now shit was too real!
“Brun!” she cried in horror when Finn hurled a ball of fire at him. For a moment she thought he would be incinerated, but Brun angled his blade and the magic fire was absorbed by it with a loud hiss. He staggered at the strength of the spell, but quickly recovered his balance and returned the favour.
Not even blinking, Finn conjured a glowing shield that deflected Brun’s spell, though not fast enough and the sleeve of his jacket caught fire.
He shouted angrily, yanking the sleeve before it burned his arm. With an angry bellow, he threw himself in the battle even more ferociously, punching Brun on the face and Lizzie winced at the sound of his nose breaking. Blood gushed from his face, but he stood his ground.
She searched for something to help Brun, but the only available weapon was the gravel. Then she peered at the manor. Fayla would come out at any second and their odds would worsen. She had to find a way to level the playing field.
Then her eyes found the hedges.
The song from the Lammas Fair.
The original song was an enchantment to make plants grow which made its way into the human world when the Fae came here.
Brun had taught her the original spell. She had practiced only once and had been able to make one single leave of basil sprout on Mrs Clisham’s herb pot in the kitchen.
Maybe I can make the hedge tickle Finn to death!
It was still worth a shot.
Reaching for the magic inside her, she began to sing.
She was so nervous that she stumbled on the words, losing the hold on her power. The brambles trembled and groaned but when she looked down, they were withering and dying.
“No, no, no!” she sobbed, swallowing convulsively when Finn cut Brun’s right calf. Now both his legs were bleeding.
Concentrate, Lizzie! She scolded herself.
Her voice shook, but the right words began to pour out of her mouth and with them her magic seemed to focus. The brambles groaned once more, but this time they began to stretch towards the driveway.
She nearly smiled when the green vines reached Finn’s feet and began to climb his legs. Yelping in surprise, he swung his blade to cut them away, but their green fingers grew back faster than he could move.
Brun angled his sword to strike, but his eyes widened in panic and he yelled her name in warning.
In the next breath, Lizzie felt a whoosh of air behind her and then something sharp and cold pressed against her throat, while a hand yanked her hair back, exposing the line of her jaw.
She cried when the blade dug into her skin.
God, this is how I’m going to die…
Brun froze, watching Fayla hold Lizzie as if she were a doll, the blade of a dagger pressed against her small neck. She was so terrified…
Freed from the brambles, Finn launched himself in the air, but Brun parried the blow, sending his enemy staggering back. He hurled another deadly spell on Finn, but again he deflected it. The magic sparks exploded on a birch tree, splitting it into half. Each side bent sideways forming a sad V.
“Look at us, MacLugh,” Finn drawled, a cocky grin cutting across his face. A nick on his cheek was bleeding and dripping on his T-shirt, “Back where we left things two hundred years ago.”
“How did you escape the monastery? I sealed it with magic!” Brun snarled back, keeping half of his attention on the women.
With the dagger pressed on Lizzie’s throat, Fayla dragged her away, disappearing amidst the birches.
Where was she taking her?
He had neutralise Finn. Fast.
Finn sneered, “Ah, little Brun, having you believe you killed me was all part of Fayla’s plan. I allowed you to find my trail and I led you to that monastery. She was waiting for me there and helped me escape while you were busy trying to turn me into ashes.”
Their swords locked in a cross, their strengths equally matched. Brun’s muscles strained with the effort.
“When did you become a traitor, MacTaggart? What has Fayla promised you?”
He laughed harder this time, “I told Fayla that you would never join her. You are too noble!Honour and duty! You genuinely believed all that rubbish!” he spat as if the words disgusted him, “Don’t you understand? I have always been Fayla’s ally! I am the first Changeling! Her first successful experiment! I am nine hundred years old, MacLugh, and I helped her wipe out every single Enchanter in this world! I am the master of glamour!” he bragged. In the next breath, his appearance changed into a man in his sixties, then to a red haired teen and finally to a black woman.
Brun’s eyes widened. No wonder it took him forty years to find MacTaggart! He could glamour his appearance into an older man, or even become invisible altogether, but he could not change it so completely like that, “This way you could sneak in and out unnoticed.”
“Just so,” Finn pushed Brun back and his feet skidded over the wet gravel, “I put them to sleep and Fayla finished them.”
He frowned, “But that trick would never have worked with the Endellys… Their protective wards would have stripped away any glamour…”
Finn chuckled, “Yes, they would. And that is why I had to become Gweyir’s special friend.”
Brun felt his guts churn, “Heavens!” he whispered and barely lifted his sword in time to block Finn’s next slash.
“That’s right, MacLugh,” he drawled, “Sleeping with Gweyir was the only way to collect what was needed for Fayla to cast a very special hex and create a mental link with her I wasn’t so lucky with Aranna, since she was still pining for Ryul’s brother, but thankfully she was very close to her younger sister, so I could console herinstead, otherwise I would need to be twice as busy…” then he offered Brun a condescending smile, “But don’t worry, I never visited Triarell’s bed. I had to find other ways to make the hex work. It took a while, but I did it.”
He wanted to throw up.
That was why Finn seduced Lizzie. To hex her and make her an easy prey to Fayla.
Anger boiled inside him and Brun swung his sword in an ill-planned attack. Finn deftly swerved to the left and he slashed only air. Seeing him off-balance, Finn lunged, but Brun used the movement to grab Finn by the arm, pulling him closer and delivering a headbutt.
Without uttering another sound, Finn fell backwards and did not move.
Panting, Brun turned his gaze to where Fayla had subdued Lizzie, but they were nowhere to be seen. Where was she taking Lizzie?
I found a village not too far away from the lake.
The blond man by the lake.
It must have been his ancestor, Brun Theynore. The hybrid Fae who could open magical gateways.
The Endellys Sisters sealed the gateway.
The loch! Fayla was taking Lizzie to the loch because that was where the gateway was!
Ignoring the pain on his legs, Brun broke into a sprint.
Light was dim by the loch. Sunrise was still a couple of hours away, but Lizzie knew exactly where they were. It was the spot where she and Brun had a picnic for the first time. She glanced back, seeing the darkened silhouette of Glennloch slowly becoming visible in the twilight.
Was Brun still fighting Finn? Was he coming for her?
Was he…
She needed to find a way to escape.
“There is still one thing I can’t understand,” she halted her march, wincing at the pain in her ankle. It was badly swollen now, straining against the fabric of her jeans. The tip of Fayla’s dagger pressed on her back mercilessly, “Why did it take you so long to kill the Endellys sisters?”
Fayla swaggered around her deliberately. How she could be walking that uneven path in stilettos as if she were on a catwalk was beyond Lizzie.
“They were too powerful together,” she admitted, not sounding very pleased about it, “It took me a very long time to devise a way to break through their defences.”
She pulled an object from her cleavage. It looked like a test tube with an elaborate iron lid that reminded Lizzie of a crown. Inside there was a glowing blue substance, something half-way between smoke and liquid swirled inside.
Lizzie stared at it feeling an odd discomfort. Whatever that thing was, she could sense it tugging at her magic, as if she had an invisible leash around her neck.
“To drain away the magic of an Enchanter is an easy task, but only once they are subdued, and that is no easy feat. It took me hundreds of years to perfect the sleeping curse!” she smiled smugly, “The secret was to make them want to stay in the dream, where they could fulfil the deepest desire of their hearts. I can create dreams that feel real, with sounds, tastes, smells, cold or warmth. In that state they are vulnerable,” she lifted the evil-looking vial, “But with the Endellys, I had to create a mental link first, and for that I needed a… sample. A drop of blood, a lock of hair, sweat from their bodies…”
She pursed her lips with disgust, “Oh my God, is that some kind of Voodoo?”
Fayla flipped the tube between her fingers, with an expression of utter boredom on her face.
“I suppose you can call it that,” Fayla drawled, sounding quite proud of her cleverness.
Diabolical cleverness that is…
Then it dawned on her.
That was why Finn had slept with her.
To collect a sample.
Lizzie swayed on her feet and thought she was going to faint. Anger bubbled inside her.
“What else do you want from me?” she screamed, surprised to hear her own rage, “You won! Why don’t you kill me and go back to the Otherworld to enjoy your eternity of power all by yourself?”
Fayla blinked and for a moment Lizzie caught a glimpse of something other than disdain and hatred on her face. It was almost like…
Insecurity?
Was that even possible? That woman, that… Fae woman was thousands of years old! She had defeated the most powerful Fae of her own world, misled an entire race of magic beings for freaking millenniaand now she felt insecure?
Seriously?
“Silly, silly girl!” Fayla snarled and stretched her hands forward. Balls of blue fire sprouted from her palms and in the next breath her whole body was haloed in fire, “Don’t you see? I have harnessed the power of hundreds of Enchanters but none was enough to break the seal! Those bitches devised a snare within the snare! To wield the power of an Endellys is not enough to break their enchantment! Only a live Endellys can do it! I need you to open the gateway for me!”
Lizzie blinked at her, understanding why Fayla had allowed Brun and her to meet and form their bond. It was not only about not messing up with the prophecy: she needed Lizzie to unlock her powers and to learn how to use them.When Finn reported that she had no magic, Fayla had to allow fate to run its course.
Did the crazy bitch really think she was going to help her go back to the Otherworld and wipe out whatever was left of the Fae there? Lizzie might not be a huge fan of her ancestors considering all the horrible things they have done to humans, but there was no way in hell she was going to let that monster back into their world.
“I hope you enjoy your eternity here, Fayla, because I will never help you!”
Moving like a dark blur, Fayla grabbed her by the throat, lifting her a few inches above the ground.
“I shall make things simple for you, Elizabeth Endellys: either you open the gateway for me, or I shall kill you and then I shall kill Brun too.”
With her hands pointlessly wrapped around Fayla’s wrists, she stared into those icy gray eyes. It made her think of something wild, like a panther stalking its prey.
Those eyes were anything but human.
Summoning the courage she was far from feeling, Lizzie glowered at her, “What if Finn already killed him?” she choked.
“Well, then there is always mum and dad, isn’t there? Or grandma?” Fayla smiled cruelly, “And your little friend… what is her name? Oh yes, Vivian. And I can always throw the Clishams in the pot…”
Lizzie’s eyes widened in horror, picturing all those people she loved being murdered.
She was already lost and Brun…
Her heart hurt at the idea of him dead.
“What do you want me to do?” she croaked, defeated. At least once she opened the bloody gateway and Fayla killed her, that monster would forever be locked away from her world.
Her family and her friends would be safe.
Fayla’s smile broadened into a feral grin, making Lizzie shiver.
“To open the gateway, you must connect the four basic elements. I trust that Brun has taught you how to do that?”
Lizzie only nodded, pressing her lips into a tight line. She really wished she could slap that bitch.
“It will be easier if you were not throttling me though…”
With her eyes firmly trained on Lizzie, Fayla released her grip and she eagerly gulped air, massaging her bruised neck.
“The earth ought to be summoned first, then air, fire and finally water. You must not lose hold on any of the elements. They need to be connected, like the links on a chain. Once this is done, the gateway will appear.”
Lizzie gave her a curt nod to confirm she understood and allowed her magic to fill her.
As soon as she began to sing, the ground hummed underneath her feet like a minor earthquake. Holding to that sensation, she summoned the air, feeling the wind change direction. It began to blow towards her, embracing her with its cool fingers.
The whistle of the wind seemed to get in tune with the humming of the ground and Lizzie beckoned the fire – the hardest one to control – to join in the elemental symphony she was creating.
Summoning the fire had always been the most difficult for her, but the wind seemed to be helping because flames exploded around them reaching towards the sky and forming a tunnel above their heads.
“Indeed you are as powerful as Triarell!” Fayla muttered behind her, in a tone between awe and envy.
With droplets of sweat running down her face, Lizzie turned her attention to the waters of the loch, knowing with deadly certainty that the gateway to the Otherworld was through there.
Struggling to keep hold of the three magical elements, she sang the final song, extending her magic into the loch.
The quiet waves at the water’s edge surged like a sudden tide, forming a crest that rose to nearly seven feet. The rocky shore sank, forming a perfectly straight path towards the crest, which then turned and twisted forming a vortex.
The water vortex expanded and Lizzie gaped when another shore, which was nearly a mirror image of the one where she and Fayla were standing, became visible.
She felt the tip of Fayla’s blade press against her back.
“Welcome to the Otherworld, Elizabeth Endellys.”
Lizzie threw one final glance at her own world, knowing that she would never see it again, but it did not matter, because her loved ones would be safe.
Then she fixed her gaze ahead and stepped through the magic gateway.
Brun felt his insides twist into knots when dead ahead the world exploded with light. He ran faster ignoring the throbbing pain on his legs.
Panting, he reached the top of the hill. Down at the shore, a huge vortex of fire hovered above the waters.
“Heavens! The gateway!”
Lizzie had succeeded in breaking the Endellys’ seal and re-opening the passage to the Otherworld.
He spotted two shadowed figures moving towards the fire vortex and he heard Lizzie’s voice being swallowed as she walked in.
Brun bellowed her name.
“You have lost, MacLugh!” Finn’s oily voice made his stomach churn.
He whirled on his heels just in time to parry the blow.
Finn’s face was covered in blood. Brun had hit him just above the eyebrow and the area was swollen.
Unfazed by his injuries, Finn grinned, “So, how did you like Lizzie? You have taken her to your bed, have you not?” Brun’s eyes narrowed and Finn’s sneer broadened, “Of course you did! Is she still a tasty little thing? It’s true I had to use a little compulsion to fuck her, but I can assure you that she enjoyed every minute.”
He licked his lips meaningfully and Brun saw red.
I had to use a little compulsion to fuck her.
With a bellow that echoed through the night, he launched himself at Finn with double fury, slashing left and right, high and low with the swiftness of a dancer. Brun had not touched his sword in more than a century, but his rage compensated for the lack of practice.
Down at the loch, the gateway was becoming smaller.
Finn’s eyes widened with surprise, his arrogant expression withering into apprehension. He managed to parry Brun’s relentless assault, but he was losing ground.
With a surprised yelp, Finn tripped on a root and lost balance.
Brun saw his chance, releasing a pulse of magic that hit Finn on the wrist. He cried in pain and the sword fell from his hand.
He kicked Finn’s sword deep into the brambles and lifted his own blade above his head. He leaped high in the air, but equally fast Finn pulled a hunting knife from his belt and motioned to stab Brun’s exposed belly.
Lizzie’s body was squeezed and stretched as she and Fayla crossed a pitch black tunnel, only the walls had no consistency at all. All around them was dark and soundless. She felt herself screaming, but the sound of her voice did not exist.
Actually, no sound seem to exist. Or light. She was aware only of the tip of the steel against her back and Fayla’s presence behind her.
That’s probably what falling into a black hole feels like!
After what it could have been seconds or hours, they stepped on another rocky beach.
In a different world.
Her stomach roiled. Psycho-bitch on her back or not, she fell on her hands and knees and retched, though there was nothing in her stomach. Lizzie coughed and spluttered for probably a whole minute, until she fell back on the cool rocks breathing heavily, feeling more tired than ever before in her life. The chill air of the pre-dawn hours slammed on her face, making her skin pebble.
“Are you done?” Fayla’s cold voice reached her ears, and all she wanted was to be strong enough to beat the bitch senseless.
Rather than summoning orbs of light, I should have asked Brun to teach me some Fae martial arts…
The thought of Brun made her heart ache. Did he defeat Finn? Or was he lying on Glennloch’s driveway…
Dead?
She looked back at the gateway. It was only a few feet away from her, still open, beckoning her to save him…
“Do not even think about it!” Fayla snarled and Lizzie glowered at her, “Now it is time to collect my prize!”
Brun snatched Finn’s arm just as the blade began to pierce his skin, almost at the same time that Finn grabbed his other wrist, preventing Brun from slitting his neck as he had intended.
“You have lost, MacLugh,” Finn repeated, pointing with his chin meaningfully down at the loch where the gateway was nearly closed.
His mind raced. If he allowed Fayla to escape now, Lizzie would be gone forever.
Darkness is vanquished when the heart is sacrificed.
He was a warrior, the protector of the Endellys Clan. He had always been ready to die for them, but this was not about duty anymore. This was about love in its purest, selfless form.
When the heart is sacrificed.
Suddenly, what needed to be done became very clear in his mind.
He would save Lizzie. He would give his life to save her because his heart was his to give.
“No, MacTaggart, you have lost!”
Brun let go of Finn’s arm and the hunting knife found its mark between his ribs. He howled in pain, feeling it rip through his flesh all the way to the other side of his body. Blood quickly soaked his belly.
Most certainly he would die from that wound.
It did not matter.
Down at the loch, the gateway was almost closed.
His manoeuvre bore fruit: Finn staggered forward. Taking advantage of his enemy’s surprise, Brun pulled him down, and both tumbled towards the closing vortex of fire and water.
Heavens! I am not going to make it!
With his eyes trained on the eerie darkness of the gateway, Brun roared his most desperate battle cry and launched his body in the air.