We had walked less than a hundred steps before my knees gave out. I was tired as hell. I was covered with welts, and shreds of bloody flesh, and the pain sucked away whatever reserves I had. Did I mention I was tired?
“I don’t think I can walk anymore, Weylyn,” I whispered. He lowered down on all fours, begging me to get on. I gave in to fatigue and climbed aboard. I laid down against his sinewy neck, as he started to run out of the forest. “This is not how I imagined riding you for the first time,” I whispered to him.
Weylyn broke through the tree line, out of the forest, and into the backyard of Edna’s mansion. A great flash lit the sky, with a simultaneous deafening thunderclap, as we were nearly struck by the lightning bolt. Weylyn slammed his metaphorical brakes, and the momentum threw me to the ground. My vision blacked out for a second, but the driving patter of rain revived me right away.
All I could do was groan in agony. I turned my head to see the black Weylyn-wolf shift back into his human form. Weylyn reached a gentle, human hand out, to push my hair out of my face and survey my body. “What happened?”
“Dub the Dipshit of Darkness happened,” I growled.
Then I noticed something. Though he had a tank top on, Weylyn was only wearing, well… “Nice heart-print boxers,” I said to him.
“I didn’t have time to get dressed,” Weylyn huffed, his voice unusually firm. Then, sensing something, his eyes started to glow again. With a low growl, he bared his teeth and looked ahead. Then, a white wolf appeared in the tree line, and Weylyn relaxed. The white wolf trotted over to me, and I realized it must be Orin. His wolf form was much larger than Weylyn’s. He lowered himself, crawling toward me, to nudge my bad leg with his snout.
“I’m sorry...” I say faintly, as we all shivered in the rain.
Weylyn picked me up and cradled me in his arms, carefully trying to avoid the gashes on my bleeding back. Orin whipped around to face the woods, hackles raised, growling at the tree line. The sounds of branches crashing echoed around me – something large and nasty was approaching. Then I heard it again, another loud howl, this time it was closer. Baring his teeth, Orin coiled to attack, but Weylyn shouted “No! Stay with me! The others are coming!”
A shadowy form emerged from the rainy curtain of darkness. Dub seemed to grow in power, and next to him, three giant animals with wet, shaggy fur and red eyes stood. “Are those fucking bulls?” I asked, in shock that we had made it through to be greeted by Darkness himself, yet again.
“Cu Sidhe. More members of the Wild Hunt.” It was Brann, as he and Keegan materialized in front of me. “Faerie hounds. Unseelie.”
Keegan grinned, which caught me off guard, but I’d forgotten about it when I heard him say, “They let out three howls before they either kill you, or take you away with them.”
“Or else, they kill you first, and then take you away with them,” Brann expanded, with academic precision. His wide-open shirt flapped in the whipping wind, and I noticed his body is covered in tattoos, all runes and symbols.
Dude is Hella inked. How did I not notice this before? I’ll have to give every inch of Brann’s chiseled body a thorough inspection, just as soon as this little scrap with Dub is over. If we’re still alive, that is.
I felt it was important to give myself proper motivation for staying alive.
“How many?” Keegan asked Weylyn, as he whipped his head towards him and my body stiffened. “Two.”
“Fucking brilliant” Orin said, now in his human form.
Dub’s voice shook me out of any further distractions. “Gentlemen, the solution is simple. Hand Miss Morrigan over, and you’ll be spared a great deal of trouble.”
“You’re fucking kidding, right?” Keegan said sharply. “You’ve already pissed us off, standing here with the rain bucketing down. Why don’t you leg it before I skin you, and make a ‘brelly of your hide?” I realized why there was a fucking grin on Keegan’s face. He was practically drooling over the opportunity for a good, bloody fight.
“Maybe I’ll wait for a rainbow, and steal your pot of gold,” mocked Dub.
Cracking his knuckles, Keegan said “Not to speak for the other guys, but I’m pretty sure we’ve got a unanimous ‘no’ here.”
“And a big fat Go-Fuck-Yourself!” Orin tossed in.
A low growl from Weylyn communicated his feelings effectively.
“Well then,” Brann confirmed. “It appears we all concur.”
“So? Fuck off!” Keegan screamed. His hands started to glow, and his hefty blackthorn shillelagh appeared in his hand.
Orin and Weylyn’s hands sprouted into vicious claws, as they spread out protectively around me. “You pulled a chancer coming here, ya bucket of snots,” Orin growled. “Piss off, or you’ll be gargling hobnails.”
“Not without the girl,” Dub said dryly.
The moment stretched, on the verge of exploding, impossible to maintain, like the bulge of water held above the rim of a glass by surface tension. Then, with the speed of a cobra strike, Dub attacked. The monstrous Cu Sidhe let out a long low howl as they joined the attack.
Dub’s first blow tossed Weylyn in the air and down onto his back a one of the hell hounds lunged for him. Dub sliced at Brann, his dagger barely missing. Before Brann could parry, Dub blinked out of existence in a cloud of smoke. He reappeared behind Brann, and struck with a horizontal slash. Brann’s spin saved him, and he nicked the cowled specter mid spin, just as
