Another option would be to gather help herself, but who else talked easily to the Fae? Etromma had some ability, but she didn’t use it much since she began attending the church. Donn never noticed the creatures, as far as she could tell. Ita would be too meek to try such a bold action. If Odhrán still lived in the abbey, she might call on his help, but he had moved far away to the north. Adhna had left and she daren’t call him back, not after the last time.
No, she’d have to deal with this mess herself. Perhaps if she convinced one Fae to move, the others would follow suit. Clíodhna had to at least try.
After asking Etromma and Donn to watch their father and Aileran, she dressed for the chilly night and stalked out of the roundhouse toward the river. The moon shone bright in the deep of the night, which helped her find the correct path. Birds slumbered under the velvet sky, but crickets sang as she marched along.
The first Fae she encountered skittered away as she entered the glade. Starlight flickered above as the wee creature hid behind a giant oak.
“Please, come out! I won’t harm you. I’m here to warn you of danger.”
Only a tinkling of the wind answered.
“You know me. We’ve met before. I helped move you here, remember?”
Another tinkling, this time stronger.
“Angry humans are coming with the dawn, They want to hurt you, but I can help bring you to safety. Will you come?”
Silence answered her urging, but behind her, something snapped.
Clíodhna whirled, expecting Pátraic. Instead, another Fae stood in the moonlight, a gossamer wisp of a woman. “You must come! He is in danger!”
Confused, Clíodhna furrowed her brow. “He who?”
“The dark-haired one! He’s trapped, and we can’t free him! Come! Come!” The pale Fae faded from view, leaving only the whisper of light and the sound of tiny bells.
“Stones and crows! Where did you go?”
The bells sounded to her right, so she turned in that direction, taking several tentative steps. She glanced back at the oak tree, but the Fae must have fled when her attention had been elsewhere. Another few steps took her out of the glade and onto a path she’d not seen before.
She stepped on the path, peering around for any sign of the Fae woman. A faint glow ahead brought her forward. Pátraic couldn’t lay a trap like this. It must be a true call for help. Clíodhna crept forward, testing each step before placing her weight down. She progressed down the glinting path until she reached a new clearing.
This was a dark place, darker than the dead of night, darker than a pit in the well of the earth. As used to magic as Clíodhna had become, she’d never seen a place so devoid of the power of the earth. A dead spot, with no energy from earth, air, water, or fire. No spirit lived within the dirt. Dead trees surrounded a deep hole, their rattling branches entwined in a wicked tangle. This tangle covered the top of the pit in a cruel cage.
She shivered, unnerved by the ravaged land. The devastation curled into her bones, making her skin crawl. Nothing lived within this wasteland. Black tendrils of rot and desecration called to her with dissonant song.
If Pátraic sought something evil, this horrible place must be perfect. Maybe he had set this trap for her. He who seeks evil is much more likely to find it wherever he looks.
Clíodhna rubbed the goosebumps from her arms and peered into the murky pit. Despite the barren earth, something stirred inside the gloom. Someone moaned, a thready voice murmuring with pain and despair.
Her own voice quavered with fear. “Who… Who’s down there?”
* * *
An eternity later, a faint voice echoed in her mind. “Flee, Clíodhna!”
She spun, searching out the source, but the only person near lie in the bottom of that pit. “Who’s there?”
“Flee! Save yourself!”
She recognized Adhna’s voice, burdened with pain and fear. She’d never known him to exhibit fear. What could frighten such a powerful Fae? What had the power to trap him in such a place?
Her skin turned to ice as a hand fell upon her shoulder. Clíodhna spun, only to find the Fae woman who had lured her here. “Who are you? Did you set this trap?”
The pale woman smiled, her long tresses glittering with their own light. “I merely came to find you. Adhna needs your help.”
“Why me?”
“You are of him, as I am.”
Her confusion must have shown on her face, for the Fae woman continued. “He is my sire, and you carry his child within you. You are of him, as I am.”
Clíodhna placed a hand over her own belly, glancing between the Fae woman and the looming maw of the evil pit. With grim resolve, she steeled herself for the pain of pulling energy through dead earth.
Deep, deep into the soil she quested, pulling a bare tendril from the land beyond the dead zone. The energy resisted her call, snapping back before she could draw it further than a hands’ span. Again and again, she extracted the energy, each time gaining a little length. After her tenth attempt, she stopped to wipe the sweat from her brow. Despite the chilly night, her efforts left her panting.
Another pull, another snap back to the living earth. Frustration warred with determination and
