Born of Oak and Silver (The Caradoc Chronicles) (28 page)

I eradicated my shaky hold and plunged into
my powerful, Druidic bloodline, all of its secrets, powers, memory, and knowledge, sinking into everything that had been capped and hidden deep away inside of me. I was flooded by capacity and ability, more than I had ever known existed. Everything the Earth could give, as well as thousands of years of honed skill, talent, and power from my line of descent, was available and eagerly waiting at my fingertips. I began to resonate, and felt the Earth reverberate in joy and hope that her chosen champion had finally come into his own.

“Then he will pay most dearly for taking somethin
g that we had so greatly looked forward to taking,” Theon seethed.

“You’ll have to make it past me first. Though I warn you, I will not make it easy for you
.” Ayda boldly stepped in front of me.

I felt something strange then, a draw from the
Earth, who readily gave, as a player she believed to be forfeit once again joined her team.

The Sidhe, completely unaware of what was happening
, began to move, fanning out around us. “As you wish, my child,” Theon said as he gave a slight tilt of his head toward us.

Color exploded as Ayda
called a massive gale of wind and directed it toward Theon, meeting his invisible attack just feet before us. Ayda hadn’t waited to see what would happen, and had also called for massive bursts of fire to shoot up through the ground where the Fae had stood. They were caught off guard by this attack, yelping as they felt the heat of her called fire instantly begin to singe them.

At once, a
ll of them sifted, reappearing just before and beside her. They took hold of her arms and again sifted her as one. They reappeared nearly fifty feet away from where I was maniacally fighting to heal. I tapped into my Druidic bloodline and found an incantation that would cause almost complete and instantaneous healing.

They held Ayda on her back, as Theon was pushing her skirts up her wildly fighting legs. She caught him in the jaw, and he laughed wickedly.
“Yes, fight me, my child. I always enjoy it so much more when they fight,” Theon sneered as he continued to ruck her skirts up her bare thighs.

Ayda warred between moments of stillness and savage fighting, unsure whether to fight and give him the satisfaction he’d just declared he’d have, or willingly submit and deprive him of what he favored.

It did not matter; they would not get that far. I stood, my hazel eyes streaked with flame, feeling power like I had never known coursing through me like life’s blood. “Stop!” My voice boomed off the trees, echoing as thunder rolling.

This caught their attention.

“Step away from her this instant, and do not dare to lay so much as a finger on her.” Again my voice built and rolled through them as it surged forward.

“Ah, Dain
e, I see that you have learned Compulsion. How delightful. Unfortunately, I am occupied at the moment and cannot presently devote the time needed to develop your talents properly.” Theon then went back to ripping away the last of Ayda’s clothing to reveal his goal.

I
drew upon something that had always been present, but I never recognized and I didn’t quite know how to define. It surged at them, and with a crack it threw them all into the air and away from Ayda, where they landed with a violent thud upon their backs and sides. It was only a fraction of what I could have called.

Ayda wasted no time in stealing
a moment for freedom. Immediately she drew herself up and ran as quickly as she could to my side.

I spared her
only the briefest of glances, reassuring myself that she was not hurt, and just as quickly returned my attention to the Sidhe, who were now beginning to stand amidst moans of discomfort.

“You’ll pay fo
r that. Both of you,” Theon growled as he raised himself. Soon all of his companions had stood as well, and sifted to stand around us in a large circle.

I kept my hand on Ayda, seeking to always keep her
protectively behind me. I moved us against a large pine, and kept her between its trunk and my body. I looked around frantically, unsure of where the attack would come from. Every member of the Fae party seethed with anger, and it was impossible to discern who would attack first.

Seeing as how Theon had been the leader thus far, I assumed it would be him, and
I was right. I saw his hands move toward us and did not wait to throw a thick wall of earth up to shield us. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere, raining down upon us. The concussion resembled the impact of a bomb.

Theon grunted in frustration. I
did not have more time; every moment wasted gave them a chance to strike us down before I did them. At my will, it began to rain. Thunder rumbled in a definite warning to beings who wrote it off as nothing.

Theon began to laugh
. “You’re going to have to better than a little rain, human.” His companions laughed loudly in chorus.

I looked at them
with eyes I knew were glowing with hot, hazel fire, eyes that could only be possessed by something ancient and knowing. I allowed the wall of dirt to fall, looking up to the sky as rain fell cool upon my face. I glared at Theon, giving him a smile that belonged to none other than the Reaper. Six bolts of lightning shot down from the sky and charred their bodies to inarticulate ash.

Behind me came
Ayda’s gasp of shock, followed only by her quick breaths and pounding heartbeats, which were the only sounds in the silence that permeated everything around us.

Still acting as a shield to my wife, I called fire, hotter than any I had ever called before
, and scorched what was left of the ash until nothing remained on the ground but six fierce, black marks upon the earth. I felt the Earth sigh in relief, and relished the rain as it continued to fall, washing everything clean.

I cocked my head left and right, looking for signs
that would indicate their reappearing. I could not sense anything myself, and so I turned to the Earth and knelt down, placing my hand upon her now damp soil. The Earth could not sense the Fae anywhere near, nor could she feel them collecting and reconfiguring themselves anywhere upon her face.

I breathed deeply with a sense of relief. I turned to Ayda. I saw her eyes grow wide
in terror as she pushed herself against the tree trunk. I heard her heartbeat quicken, her breathing grow sharp. She was afraid of me.

“No
ma belle femme
, you will never have anything to fear of me.” Slowly, I reached my hand out to cup her cheek.

She tensed at my touch, shutting her eyes to me.

“Ayda, please, look at me. Tell me what you see.”

She swallowed heavily, her eyes still tightly
held fast, and I could not hear a slowing of her heartbeat.

I dropped my hand
sadly and backed away.

Only
then did her eyes begin to open. “No, Daine . . .” Her hand extended toward me and gestured for me to approach her.

I stopped a foot away from her, smelling her scent of
sweet vanilla and honeysuckle, and sought to fill my lungs with nothing else. It soothed me even as she regarded me carefully.

Though she was putting on a brave face, I knew that in this moment, she feared me greatly. Her hands
were clenched tightly at her sides. “You look like a man possessed. Your eyes are aflame. I’ve never seen anything like it. Grandad’s occasionally seem to glow when he’s upset, but yours . . . yours positively burn. I think that if I were to look into them too long I might be consumed.”

She paused a mom
ent, scrutinizing me further, “And your face looks hard and cold, not soft and tender like I am used to. But,” she finally closed the distance between us, stepping into my arms easily as she looked up into my eyes, “it is still you.” She laid her head against my chest, feeling it rise and fall with breath and hearing the steady beat of my heart.

I stroked her dark hair, grateful for her strength. I tipped her face up to my own and kissed her soundly. Again, her heart and breathing quickened. I felt mine speed up to match her
s. I had nearly watched her raped, and had something inside of myself not come into sharp focus, I most assuredly would have done so. The idea of it only enraged me again, making me demanding of her. She took it, feeding my passion with her fright.

I pulled away forcibly and stared down into her seemingly innocent face. “Ayda, you’re a Druid.” Had I not seen what she had just done I would have not believed it. “Does anyone know about thi
s? You should have been in Drumcliff with me.”

I watched her as she shifted uneasily
. “That is not something I’d like to get into just now,” she offered quietly.

I nodded my assent.
I understood, and I wasn’t going to force her to speak of something that she didn’t want to. I had promised her that I wouldn’t.

She then looked up into my eyes, worry plain on her face
. “Suffice it to say that no one, except for you, knows about me.”

“If that is how you’d like to keep it, no one else ever will,” I said as I kissed her head. “Tell me, have you known long? You were incredible.”

She replied easily. “I have known for years, since about the time that you first arrived with Grandad at Killiney. Part of my reasoning for wanting to follow you, Gair, and Cian was simply because I wanted to learn. I dabbled here and there, but never fully embraced it. Fact is, I decided to ignore it—that is, until now. Love is quite the motivator.” She grew quiet as she reflected over some unknown past.

When she again
chose to speak, it was excitedly. “As for being incredible, that was you. I didn’t know it was possible for anyone to be able to summon and control lightning. Are you sure you’re not a descendant of Thor?”

I allowed the joke to slip by, focusing on the facts ins
tead. “It’s not possible, or at least shouldn’t be. Lightning is not an element. I have never heard of a Druid possessing that power. I do not know how I did it, but I know that if I ever wanted to do it again, I could . . . and, easily at that.” I then lowered myself a bit so I could look levelly into her eyes. “Ayda, it would probably be best if we kept this between us. I do not know what has happened to the Druidic order since we stepped into the Silver, and I do not know how any of the others would respond to it if they found out what I just did. I am not the thunder god, but that wouldn’t stop them from thinking so, and there could be grave consequences if they did.”

“Of course
.” she nodded agreeably and smiled.

That night
, when we were once again in the safety of our home, we found that another Druid mark had appeared, this one on the opposite side of my chest, originating under my arm and swirling around on the skin of my pectoral.

We also discovered Ay
da had developed her first mark, a small little ring of thorns on the side of her left ribcage. Ayda immediately began to fret over it, upset and ashamed that it had appeared at all. I kissed it gingerly, proud that she had warred against her decision to ignore her Druidic gifts and had gone to battle for me.

I did not stop scouring the
area for the Sword after Ayda’s and my run-in with Theon. Many Fae still came and went from Kamarina, and I took it as a sign that they had yet to find the Sword either. Hostile words were exchanged between us whenever our paths crossed, but it never amounted to anything more.

One night, I came home late. It was now October, and the perfect weather provided
a comfortable environment for extra work and pay. The windows of our small home were lit by the warm glow of oil lamps from within as I came up the drive. My stomach rumbled as I smelled something wonderful wafting its way from the house. I hurried to tend to the horses before striding quickly into the house through the back door.

I
stopped mid-step. Bram sat at our small dining table, looking older and frailer than I had ever seen him before. For the first time, he truly appeared to be nearly as old as he claimed. His back was bent, his beard long and scraggily, his skin thin and nearly translucent. I couldn’t help but gape.

“Hello, my lad!” He stood slowly
, with Ayda rushing from the kitchen stove to help him to his feet.

“Hello,
Bram!” I swiftly caught him in my arms for a long embrace.

He stood back from me, his hands
lacking the strength they had always had as they feebly held my shoulders. “My, my, why look at you, Daine. I swear you have not changed a bit. Are you well?”

I smiled warmly at him
. “Yes, I am, very much so. And if it were possible, all the more so now that you’ve finally joined us.”

“
That I have. I am sorry it took so much longer than I had hoped.” He clapped my shoulder a few times and then inched back to again find his seat.

He watched as Ayda came to my side, and I put my arm around her waist a
nd drew her in for a quick kiss.

“Sit,” she said to me
, her eyes full of love, “supper will be ready shortly. Please occupy Grandad so I that can attend to the gravy without burning it.” I nodded, and watched as she seemed to sashay coyly to the stove.

I t
ook my seat across from Bram. He stared at me with his eyes wide and eyebrows raised, nodding his head as if to invite obvious conversation. I must have been a complete dolt, because it was not until he blatantly looked between Ayda and me that I was finally able to understand what it was he wanted to discuss.

“Oh.” I looked at the table momentarily, and then to Ayda who was silent, biting her lip in an effort not to smile. I see she’d saved revealing our marriage for me. “Bram, I’d like to ask your permission to
. . . to . . . to remain married to your granddaughter?”

He laughed,
a sound that was so much more enjoyable than I had remembered it to be.

“I highly doubt you ever thought
you needed it,” he said through his chuckles. “But you have my most sincere blessing nonetheless. Words are not able to express the joy I find in knowing that you have married my dearest granddaughter. I always considered you a son, and now that is concrete.” I smiled widely at him. “Tell me,” he asked, “how long have you two been married?”

“It has been a week over two months
, Grandad,” Ayda answered proudly as she stirred the beginnings of our gravy in her heavy cast iron pot.

“I wish
I had been present to join the celebration. You both look to be in the highest of spirits, and I can honestly say that marriage suits you well.” Ayda and I looked at each other with bashful smiles, before looking away as if we had been caught red-handed

We ate the supper Ayda had so wonderfully prepared,
enjoying one another’s company greatly. And then, Bram sat back in his chair. His face lost its mirth and grew somber. His tone was serious. “Daine, I am very sorry, but I must speak to you of something grave; it cannot keep any longer.”

I nodded my head, wishing him to
proceed.

“You
and I are all that remains of the Druidic order,” he said with finality.

Ayda gasped
. “Grandad, does that mean that . . . my uncles and cousins too, have . . . ?” Tears flooded her eyes.

He did not have the heart to speak
; his head nodded most grievously in the affirmative.

I looked down at my hands. M
y sapphire ring was still solid and sure on my hand, an iron bracelet was firmly clasped around my wrist, and the heavy torque, a constant weight, was a reminder of who I was. Without the order, I would have been lost. I mourned them all.

I
n time, Bram cleared his throat. “It was sudden,” he said. “We were entirely caught off guard—even with our defenses being heightened. Upon our departure from Drumcliff, Daine, the Council had convinced Braesal that every man, woman, and child should be gathered within the Castle’s wards.

“The Sid
he, as you have noticed, have found it within them to diminish their glamour until they are indistinguishable from humans. It is offensive to them to resemble a human, but they are doing it nonetheless. As the Druidic families came to the castle, the Sidhe had intermixed themselves within our numbers. We had not the faintest warning that they were not the siblings, or children of the Druids with which they entered. Our wards prevented any Fae from entering—but when they so dampened themselves, we had nothing to keep them out.             

“
And then, it was too late. The Sidhe forced the wards to be removed, and then watched idly as a vast horde of their creatures wrought havoc upon our poor people. It was a massacre. When I stopped receiving communication from Drumcliff, I knew that something terrible had happened. I left Strasbourg, and made my way for Ireland in all haste.

“
Drumcliff was in ruins. The Castle burned beyond repair. The crops and fields were nothing more than dried wastelands. The homes that had once held growing families were desecrated tombs. All that remained of the once proud walls was a single, jagged scar of piled stone, blackened unrecognizably from flame and smoke.

“
I called upon the Earth, and watched heartbrokenly as the ruins began to sink below the soil. When it was finished, not even a single stone remained behind.” He swallowed hard, fighting emotion. “Forgive me, I find it hard to recall how much we have lost.” His voice wavered. “How little we have left.”

I was about to console him,
but he did not allow it. “I left, taking my hired horse and riding hard to the Bulben Guard. My heart froze when, after scouring everywhere, not a single member could be found.” Bram sighed, now leaning forward with his elbows placed upon the table, his hands clasped together in support of his chin. His face was intense as he proceeded. “I searched everywhere, carefully investigating the location of every posted Group in Ireland—nothing was left. I went to my sons’ homes and found them all ransacked and ruined.

“I
sent word immediately to members of our order in England, Scotland, Denmark, France, and Germany. The only response I received was from our German branch. I rushed to join them. Alas, by the time I had arrived, they too had been destroyed. I had hoped to find survivors, but I do not think any remain.

“
It was with an exceedingly heavy heart that I returned to Strasbourg. It was the only place that I knew, wherever you were, you would know to find me. I cultivated my library—all that we have left of the Druid texts are there. I was left in peace for five years.” Bram then took his glass of wine, and drank heartily from it. He gave us both a disconsolate smile and looked down at his exceedingly worn hands. Ayda and I shared a brief look that spoke volumes—the prevailing sentiments being both worry and dread.

After a
cursory break, Bram began again. But this time he spoke very slowly, as if he was hesitant to share what he needed to. “Five years, and then I received my first uninvited guest. Maurelle.” He gazed at us with abject seriousness. “I first met Maurelle many, many years ago, when I was naught but a sixty-four year old man. A beautiful female, with open arms and body—I took to her unquestioningly. I knew what she was, and fool that I am I still kept her in my arms. She gave me ambrosia to drink, and it left me perpetually in my sixty-four year old state. It was thus that I have remained, until recently.

“When in exchange for her
gift of eternal life she asked only for my ring in return, I adamantly refused her. I would not give up something akin to my very life’s blood. At my refusal, Maurelle became incensed. So much so that she could no longer maintain her lessened appearance and withdrew from me.

“
I did not see Maurelle again until I realized that it was she who was so intently watching your parents in France. She was there for you, Daine. To prevent the words of O’Carroll’s prophecy from coming true—that you would hold the Sword anew and prevent the Fae from ever being able to claim the Earth for their prize and plunder.”

I felt Ayda’s hand squeeze
mine, but I remained silent as Bram continued with his story.

He looked at the floor, and then over the tidily minded house that Ayda so painstakingly created. “There are things for which I am not proud of having done. The foremost of these has been that I ever allowed Maurelle into my life at all. As a Druid, I knew better, but I allowed my emotions and shortcomings to blind me to
the consequences.”

Bram reached for Ayda’s hand
, seeking a grounding source and security as he began to relate the final portion of his tale. “Seven years ago, Maurelle arrived at my doorstep. She did something to me, I . . . I don’t know what it was, but I lost consciousness of all time and events. I did not regain awareness until it was to a bucket of freezing water being thrown into my face. I had been chained and manacled to the wall of my woodshed. Maurelle was nowhere to be found, and I was left to the hands of a Sidhe named Theon, who took great joy in my struggles and suffering.

“After hours of torturous treatment
, Maurelle finally reappeared. With nothing more than a look, the manacles that had held me fell away, revealing my raw and bleeding flesh. I fell to my knees. The brief reprieve was not to last. With only a motion, she caused my arms to stretch out into the air in the same position they had been held in by the manacles for hours. With my arms extended, I was raised a taunting eight inches above the ground. She had not said a word, but I needed none to see the gleam of joy that brightly shone from her eyes. Heavy metal spikes materialized in the air. I paled knowing what I was about to endure.

“
They shot forward and drove into my flesh and bone with such force that they pinned me to the wall. Thus secured, Maurelle and her companion vanished; hilarious laughter filled their wake. With them went the power she had used to raise my body into the air and drive in the lances. It was then that I felt the true agony of their sentence. My body weight hung excruciatingly upon the seventeen spikes that impaled me. I bled profusely, bleeding until I lost all consciousness, only to regain it again and find that I had lost all the more.

“For two and a half days
they left me, and then my fastenings fell away, and I to the floor. I dragged myself into the safety of my warded home. Calling upon the absolute dregs of my strength, I used the incantation for healing to take hold and repair my broken body. Gratefully, I traded my awareness of pain for the mercy of darkness and oblivion. When I came to, I was much improved, but was in the state you currently find me in.”

“But
. . . but I thought that you couldn’t age, or die, Grandad,” Ayda blurted out.

At her hurried word, Bram’s face changed from stark fury as he recollected his
condition, softening until it was gentle and considerate. He regarded her tenderly. When he spoke, it was quiet. “Ah, my dear, I can do both. The catch is that I cannot die, nor grow ever older until I reach its cold embrace, unless it is at the hand of one I love.”

A
shamed, he looked away, as realization of the continued depth of his feeling for Maurelle washed over us. Ayda was rendered entirely speechless, and for a brief moment so too was I. I tried to begin to speak, but nothing came of it. I tried yet again with another question, and was unable to formulate the words in order to make it audible. I looked at Ayda, who was blandly staring at the myriad of dishes sitting on the table before us, and I returned my attention to Bram, finding his gaze still averted.

H
e spoke in a hushed voice. “I admit I was a bit disoriented when I realized what had become of my physical state. Initially, I seemed unable to adjust to the lack of youthful vigor, and the great reduction of my human adroitness. As I was shuffling about, I happened to notice that this had been nearly pushed under the kitchen doors.” Bram then reached into his coat pocket and withdrew an envelope. He placed it on the table and slid it over to me. I withdrew my hand from under the table where I had been holding Ayda’s, and took it, using both of my hands to open it so that I could peek inside.

There was a
single sheet of neatly folded vellum. Ayda leaned close in an effort to see. I tilted the open envelope toward her allowing her to see its plain contents. I pulled out the carefully folded paper and straightened it, adjusting it so that I could see it clearly.