Before the Donnybrook started, Keira leaped up on the platform in the center of the room. Soon as she did, a loud caw came from above. A raven flew in from the open skylight. I say ‘raven’, though it was the size of a condor. This great enormous bird circled the dome, then landed on right on Keira’s shoulder.
“That is the biggest raven I have ever seen,” Weylyn whispered.
“That particular bird is the Morrigan’s familiar,” the Donn said in awe. “That is Omen.”
Good omen or bad, I wondered, as the jet black creature dug its claws into Keira’s shoulder, so deep that blood began to stain her shirt. Dian walked toward Keira with Dothur and Dub flanking him. “Come now, we don’t have time for stupid pet tricks.”
“Do. Not. Touch. Me.” Keira hissed, enunciating every word, suddenly the brothers stopped dead in their tracks.
I looked toward Keira, and I was terrified. Her eyes rolled back in her head, only the whites showing. She was no longer standing on the platform. She was levitating a foot above it. Her hair floated around her head, waving in every direction. She spread her arms out, as a dark glow radiated around her body. Like me, the others were all frozen in place.
Keira opened her mouth to speak – but the sound coming out was not her own. “I await your arrival at the House of Donn,” proclaimed a booming, ethereal voice. Everyone stood in silence - then suddenly Omen flew off her shoulder and out the skylight. The instant the raven was gone, Keira let out a loud scream. Loud? Like an air raid siren. A bomb exploding, or a planet. The sound of her shriek was not of this world. It shredded through me like shards of glass. Blood drained from my face, my pulse raced, my heart thudding. Her ear-piercing scream was so explosive, I felt I could almost see the actual sound waves rolling through the air, distorting it like heat from a furnace.
As bad as it was for us, her ghastly howl had even more power over the brothers. They buckled to the ground, each face in an agonized rectus of pain. Clapping hands over their ears did nothing. The thundering force of her cry seemed enough to reduce their brains to jelly. They moaned and writhed – and then, beaten, all three of them dematerialized. The instant they vanished, the monster-like screech stopped. Keira hovered another second...
Then she let out another scream – her own this time. This one was desperate, terrified ... human, and like a puppet’s strings were cut, she dropped. We all dashed for Keira. I managed to catch her right before she hit the ground. I cradled her limp body in my arms. It was silent again. The brothers were gone.
“Let’s get the hell off this island,” I said, and began carrying Keira out of the sanctuary. Everyone hurried along with me.
“What the hell was that?” Keegan asked.
“The Scream of the Morrigan,” the Donn intoned, still awestruck.
“But, that sound? How…? I mean, that wasn’t Keira. It couldn’t be.” Katie looked shaken, more than any of us.
“Think of it like a banshee’s wail,” the Donn explained. “She can foretell death, and through Omen, her familiar, the spirit of the Morrigan entered Keira’s body and took over to deliver the message.”
Katie reached out for Keira, still out cold in my arms. She gently brushed a lock of hair back from her deathly pale face. “Will she be alright?” She turned to the Donn, but he said nothing, and his face was blank.
“I think so,” I huffed, “She’s out cold, that’s all.”
Weylyn looked from Keira to the Donn. “Time’s running out. We have to get off the island, now.” Weylyn hurried toward the exit, and we all ran out of the temple.
“Does she still have the knife?” Brann asked.
I’d totally forgotten about that bloody thing. I lifted Keira higher, so Weylyn could check up under her shirt. “Got it,” he said, pulling the knife out from behind her belt.
“Be careful!” I growled.
“Just hold her still, ya trembling can of piss.”
Weylyn carefully removed the Bone Knife, stuck it in his bag and zipped it up. We ran down the temple steps, but just as we reached the street, Dub materialized into being right in front of us.
“Fuck,” said Katie. “Where are Spock and Captain Kirk?”
“Give her to me!” Dub commanded.
“Beam us up, Scottie,” I muttered.
“Eat my Y-fronts, you leather fetish fuck!” Keegan screamed. He hurled his trusty shillelagh, hitting Dub square in the forehead, drawing a trickle of black blood, and a cloud of black rage. Dub took a staggering step toward Keegan, but dropped to his knees. His eyes were glassy, and he looked dizzy as a drunk stepping off a carnival Tilt-A-Whirl. Brann snapped his fingers to get our attention. He gestured for me and Weylyn to take off with Keira and the Donn.
“Split up,” Brann directed. “He can’t chase all of us.” I carried Keira off in the direction we had come, as Weylyn lead the old Donn. I turned back to see Dub struggle back to his feet, trying to uncross his eyes and focus.
Then Keegan started muttering, and rattled off some kind of spell. Oh shit, I thought, what will he fuck up now? Keegan pointed at a grapefruit-sized rock, and raised it, motioning with his hand so it hovered six feet in front of Dub. Keegan made another movement, like he was drawing back on an imaginary slingshot, and aiming it at Dub. I know I wasn’t alone in wondering how this was going to go wrong.
Keegan opened his fingers, releasing his imaginary ‘sling’. WHAP! That big rock fired right into Dub’s groggy skull, with a sound like hitting a coconut with a police baton. Down he went again. Brann pounded Keegan on the back with a thumping attaboy. The Leprechaun himself looked the most astonished of any of us.
