Celtic Rain (The Battle Raven Series) (36 page)

He shouted and got the attention of the Danann soldiers surrounding them. “Surround us for a couple of seconds. Nothing gets through.” He heard a shout of acknowledgement and the men formed a semicircle around them.

As she prepared herself she looked at him. “I love you Aodhan.”

He stepped up to her and put both of his hands on the side of her head and looked in her eyes and concentrated. As she started to disappear in a white flash Lara heard a slight fading whisper.

“I love you Lara.” Aodhan said at the last possible second and watched her go in a white flash just as a sword was following through to cut her down. Aodhan parried the blow and did a straight thrust taking the soldier down. He turned and fought his way back to Devlyn. Looking Liam’s way he saw that Lara got there just in time.

Lara had landed right in front of Liam as he was running to cut Blaine down. His blade crashed down onto her crossed blades as she blocked the blow that was meant for Blaine. Her sudden appearance threw him off balance.

“I am the one who is to reach you first. Not Blaine.” Lara said as she took a chance and glanced back at Blaine. He was fighting off another Milesian with an irritated expression on his face.

“I have heard as much.” Liam said and watched as her head snapped back around to him. He immediately got over the shock of seeing her in front of him and arched swing at her which she easily swiped aside.

“Don not go easy on me because I am a woman.” she said to him as she leaped at him spinning and tapped his sword. “End this.”

He slashed down at her and hit her daggers so hard she felt both of her arms jar. She backed off and shook out her arms. The man hit like an anvil. “You hit harder than any man I’ve sparred with before.”

Liam gave her a cocky grin. “This is not sparring. I will end this when they surrender or I have it out with him.”

He looked at Blaine and started to go around her towards him. She sidestepped in front of him and blocked his path.

“You will have to go through me.” She stood in a fighter’s stance ready to spring on him or anyone else around her. She did a quick spin kick to the head of a soldier who was creeping up on her and faced Liam again.

“As you wish, my Lady Battle Raven. No magic, no cheap tricks. Just you and me.”

“I would not have it any other way.” Lara said and her green eyes flashed.

Liam swung a deadly blow at Lara’s neck which she blocked and spun away from just in time. She swung one of her daggers at him intentionally missing and kicked him in the mid section knocking the wind out of him.

“You know a few moves like your son.” He said appraising her.

“I am full of surprises.” Lara said and spun around him and slightly nicked him on the arm.

Liam swung at her with a right hook more angry at himself for letting her knick him. She easily ducked under his arm.

As Lara and Liam were fighting Aodhan had made it back over to where Devlyn was. He had seen Lara block Liam’s blow aimed at his father. Right when he got to Devlyn’s side a Milesian somehow had gotten past Devlyn’s defense and slashed into his leg. Blood gushed out through his fingers that were pressed over the wound.

“You have to get to the healers.” Aodhan yelled at him above the noise of the battle.

“No.” Devlyn yelled back as he sliced through another Milesian and his leg gave out. Devlyn fell to his knees. Aodhan said an oath and translocated Devlyn to the healer’s tent placing him on a cot directly in front of Fand.

“Take care of him and send him back out.” Aodhan said to her and almost collapsed himself. Fand grabbed him and used her powers to give him
more strength. He looked at her in thanks and ran back out to the field. As soon as he got back to the back of the Danann line he searched the field for his father and watched in horror at the scene before him.

Lord Blaine ran a Milesian through just before the man’s blade slashed into Lara. Blaine turned to block the blow of another and while swinging to cut the soldier down he caught a foot on a fallen soldier and his swing went wide. The Milesian he had swung at easily sidestepped the blow. Aodhan watched in horror as Blaine left himself in a defenseless position and the Milesian he intended to cut down ran him through.

“No!” Aodhan yelled as he saw and felt the loss of what happened. He was about ready to translocate to his father when Devlyn ran past him. He had seen what had happed to Blaine and yelled at Aodhan.

“There is nothing you can do. Use your anger!” he ran ahead to rejoin the battle.

Aodhan paused for a second. He quickly realized through his grief that Devlyn was right. He ran in to join Devlyn and the other Danann soldiers in battle.

Lara somehow heard Aodhan yell over the battle and glanced over and saw what had happened to Blaine. She felt Aodhan’s anger and loss and her emotions took over. Her eyes turned a smoky gray as she stepped back a pace from Liam. Raising her arm she swung it in an arching stroke while she turned and black feathery smoke surrounded all of the Milesian and Danann around her. She ended up in a defensive crouch blocking a blow that Liam had aimed at her. Lara looked around at the surrounding soldiers. Milesian and Danann alike were all stopped in their tracks.

“Shit.” she said as she looked at the dumb founded soldiers surrounding her. “At least they will not interrupt us.”

Lara looked at Liam through her crossed blades and wondered why her power did not affect him.

“My powers did not affect you. Good.” Lara said as she shoved his blade away.

Liam looked around at the soldiers and then his full attention was back to Lara. Full of fury he raised his sword. “Blaine was mine. You took that away from me!”

He lunged at her and she easily moved aside to avoid it. She side kicked him and he staggered back holding his ribs.

“He was never yours to take.” Lara calmly said.

“Then it will be your life.” Liam said as he lunged forward with a straight thrust.

He anticipated her move to deflect the blow past her swinging his foot out tripping her. Lara rolled to the ground avoiding his sword. She ended up in a crouch ready for him and took a chance looking around at the other soldiers that her power of confusion did not reach. They were gradually slowing down and stopped fighting each other. All looking on in amazement at what happened to their comrades.

Liam took a quick glance around too and he arched a swing at her head with his sword which brought her attention back to the fight. She barely knocked his blade aside in time and ducked out of the way.

“Pay attention.” she said angrily to herself.

The clashing iron of their blades brought every man that was fighting towards Lara and Liam creating a circle surrounding them. It was as if God had put a spell on them. For some unknown reason the soldiers were more interested in the fight with Lara and Liam than with each other.

Lara made a quick decision to use the same move that she used on Aodhan at Carrick’s. She let Liam knock one of her blades out of her hand that made him overconfident in his next move. As he moved to thrust his sword into her stomach she pivoted her body to the side and stepped to him. Grabbing his forearm she flipped him over her hip. The flip sent his sword flying onto the ground. Liam landed flat on his back. Unlike Aodhan he did not remain down. He rolled himself up onto his knees and right into Lara’s blades crossed at his throat. All she had to do was slash with her daggers and the battle would be over. Instead all she could see was Wash and pulled the blades back and stepped away.

Liam looked up at her confused. “Why not kill me?”

“You are too valuable to waste. There has been enough bloodshed.”

He rolled back and grabbed his sword off of the ground swinging it at her with a confused look on his face. He really didn’t want his troops to think he was a coward and stop fighting.

“You should not have done that. Killing me would have ended this war that you have been so desperately trying to talk me out of.”

“Rethink this.” Lara said as she almost knocked the sword out of his hands.

“No.” Liam said with a hint of weariness.

“Look at the soldiers. None are fighting anymore. It may be because of confusion or that they are just simply watching us. What really matters is that the fighting has stopped. Do you really think any of us want to be in this battle of revenge?”

“Do you always talk when you fight?” Liam asked as he jumped away from her dagger as it sliced at his stomach.

“It passes the time.” she said and shrugged as she dodged his sword “Who knows you might listen to reason and both sides can be at peace again. No one really wants this and no more lives will be lost. Let’s be done with this. Start the peace negotiations.”

As the soldiers were standing transfixed by Lara and Liam, General Ruark started making his way towards General Kayne. He needed to talk some sense into the man and end this. He felt an arrow fly by his face as it took down the soldier next to him. His head jerked to the left and he scanned the tree line for a second. He did not see any movement and decided to brush it off as a fluke.

Ruark kept on moving and noticed an arrow sink into a soldier near Kayne. They looked at each other for a second and Kayne spotted something over in the trees. They both acknowledged each other and gave a peace signal.

Kayne signaled to Ruark to circle around the left side of the trees and he would take the right. Ruark nodded at him in agreement and started quickly making his way through the soldiers to the forest. Kayne followed suit going the other direction. As Ruark hit the tree line he made a huge arch around where he saw the first arrow. He spotted the archers just as he saw Kayne on the other side.

“Firbolg.” Ruark cursed to himself.

Cadmon saw out of the corner of his eye the two men that were flanking his small group. Tiran spotted Kane and ran towards him. General Daigh looked in the opposite direction and lunged to attack Ruark.
“Keep one alive!” Ruark yelled just as he ran Tiran through.

Ruark managed to knock down General Daigh. Kayne looked around for the other who had slipped away.

The fire crackled sending sparks out of the fireplace and Lady Paili turned slightly startled. She started to pace and was stopped short. The door opened and the healer she had sent for walked into her chamber.

“Aalia. Thank you for coming.”

“I came as quickly as I could, my Lady.” Aalia said and looked around.

“I thought my services were needed?”

Her question was answered when Damon appeared in front of her and slumped to the floor. A slight crack was heard when he hit his head on the marble floor. Paili let out a muffled cry and hurried to his side.

“Quickly Aalia. Please heal my brother. My amulet will let Lord Faolan know if I used my power without his consent.”

Aalia gently rolled Damon over and placed her hands over him. A faint orange glow surrounded him and he opened his eyes. Damon slowly rose to his feet. He rubbed his temples and looked around. He held out his hand helping Aalia to her feet.

“Thank you Aalia. Have we been summoned?”

“Yes. We must hurry.” Paili smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt.

Damon held out his arm and Paili took it as he led her into the torch lit corridor beyond. A guard outside of the throne room opened the door for them. When they entered Lord Faolan was lounging on his throne with his eyes shut. He held up a hand motioning them to be quite. Lord Faolan sensed a lull in the fighting between the Danann and Milesian armies. When his eyes opened they fixed on Lady Paili.

“Tiran is dead. I do not believe your plan is going so well, my Lady.” Faolan said giving her an evil grin.

“What plan?” she asked calmly as she walked up the steps to the throne. She knew he had somehow found out. He always did.

Damon followed her up the steps to stand before Lord Faolan. He went down on one knee and lowered his head. Lady Paili sat down in the smaller ornate chair to Faolan’s side. She shifted in the chair to face him trying to look as innocent as possible knowing that he wouldn’t buy it.

“Do you really believe that I would not have known? Rise Damon.” He looked at Damon who was masking the fear in his eyes. Faolan stood and walked up to Damon.

“Now is the time. Show me the boy Doyle and I will help you stay in his head so you can leave the impression.”

The remaining Danann and Milesian soldiers stood watching Lara and Liam fight. Niall again looked at the men around Kedryn who were binding their legs as he walked up to the young man who he knew now to be the Lady Battle Raven’s son.

“Interesting. Handicapped them instead of killing them.”

“I didn’t think I could live with myself if I actually killed someone.” Kedryn looked at where his mother was. “Looks like they are just sparring.”

Niall glanced back over to Lara and Liam. “What do you suppose they are talking about?”

“Knowing my mom. She’s trying to convince him to stop the war. Looks like everyone else has stopped fighting too.”

“It is like they are under a spell. Do you think your mom had something to do with it?” Niall asked.

“Could be. We really don’t know the extent of her powers yet. By the way, I’m Kedryn Ashton O’Broin.” He held out his hand to Niall and he took it.

“Niall Han O’Connell. Liam sent me here to
take care of you
.” He grinned at Kedryn. “I believe this time I will ignore that order.”

Kedryn overheard Doyle as he was talking to another soldier behind him. He was telling the soldier that Lawler had been injured and was in the healer’s tent. Kedryn was about to turn to talk to Doyle when Niall nudged him and he watched his mom flip Liam.

Behind Kedryn, Doyle suddenly grabbed his head. He saw his sister being tortured and heard a voice in his head. “If you want to see her alive. Kill the son.”

Doyle unconsciously felt himself grab his sword and move to strike down Kedryn from behind. Niall heard the distinct ring of a sword being drawn and turned. He let a shout and pushed Kedryn out of the way. He ran his sword into Doyle while his side took the blow Kedryn would have received. Niall fell into Kedryn knocking them both over.

From where Liam and Lara were in the distance it looked as if Doyle had run his sword through Niall. Liam saw what happened. “No.” Liam yelled as he was in the middle of a downward stroke.

Lara turned her head and glanced back and saw Doyle, Kedryn and another man fall to the ground. At the same time Lara had missed a step and wasn’t paying attention to the swing that was coming down at her. Liam tried to stop the sword in time except the momentum was too great. All he could do was adjust where it would hit.

A loud thud and crack sounded and Lara felt a piercing pain run through her. Her whole upper right side grew wet with blood and her body went into shock. She fell to the ground and the last thing she saw was Liam kneeling next to her. She felt him scoop her up in his arms. She forced her eyes open and Aodhan’s face appeared and faded slowly away.

“I could have blocked it. Don’t blame Liam.” Lara said slurring the last
part and passed out.

Aodhan looked at Liam who was as still as stone clinging to Lara. It looked as if Liam wasn’t even breathing.

“Give her to me Liam. I will take her to the healers. I will even do it myself if I am not too drained.”

Liam pulled her closer and looked up at Aodhan trying to comprehend what he was saying. It was slowly coming through.

“Liam.
GIVE HER TO ME
!”

Liam paused as Aodhan’s words got through to him. He placed Lara in Aodhan’s arms and watched as they disappeared in a flash of light. He felt his hands shaking and looked at them covered with blood. Lara’s blood.

Kedryn saw his mom go down as he was getting up and watched as Aodhan appeared by her side. In a flash translocate with his mother. Kedryn wanted to run over to the healer’s tent. He stopped himself to check on Niall. He heard Doyle speak his name. Kedryn kneeled down by his side.

Doyle reached up to Kedryn coughing out some blood and Kedryn helped him to a sitting position.

“They were torturing her. I saw it in my head. Lord Faolan would not stop until I killed you. I heard the voice in my head and it almost felt as if I could not control myself.” he coughed up more blood. “They were going to kill Kiara. She needs help. Please save my sister. Forgive me.”

Kedryn felt Doyle’s fear, his sorrow and the truth of the matter. He reached over and grabbed his friend’s sword and handed it to him. Kedryn looked him in the eyes.

“You have my word. I will rescue Kiara. My friend I forgive you.” Doyle looked at him and smiled. He slowly closed his eyes and passed into the land of his forefathers.

Back in her room Kiara felt a shift that the descendant’s son had made his decision. “He will come for me.” She let out a relieved sigh and felt the emptiness and sorrow of her brothers passing.

Kedryn’s attention moved to Scanlon as he stepped up to Niall and helped him up.

“Are you going to be ok?” Kedryn asked Niall.

“Just a flesh wound. What was that all about?” Niall asked as he pressed a cloth to his side.

Kedryn looked at Doyle’s body. “I’ll explain later. Thanks I owe you one. You sure you don’t need a healer?”

Scanlon looked at the blood soaking through the side of Niall’s jerkin. “You should let the healers mend your wound. Kedryn go to your mom. I will take care of this.”

“I’m gone.” Kedryn said as he turned and ran.

Niall watched Kedryn run to the healer’s tent. He turned to Scanlon still clutching his side.

“There are healers at the Milesian camp. I have had worse. I would rather get to Liam. This nonsense has to stop.”

“I will come with to make sure you do not pass out on the way. If you get me close enough to Liam I can try to talk some reason into him.”

In the middle of the battle field Liam looked up from his hands and got off of his knees. He stood and spotted General Kayne and General Ruark dragging a man in his direction.

General Ruark looked around and saw that some of his confused soldiers were coming to and were looking to start a fight again.

“Halt! We are done, spread the word.”

General Kayne yelled the same orders to his soldiers. They dragged General Daigh to where Liam was standing still looking at his hands. Kayne walked up to him and shook him.

“Snap out of it Liam. You must hear this.” Kayne said and Liam’s head jerked up to look at him.

Ruark threw the man on the ground. “Speak dog!”

General Daigh spit on him. He saw the look on Liam’s face and started a deep cackling laughter. “You struck the wench down! My beloved’s plan worked!”

Kayne kicked him cracking a couple of his ribs as he sprawled on the ground and rolled over. Daigh sucked in a breath and spit out some blood.

“Your numbers are reduced. All to your blind ignorance and you will be no match against us. Our numbers are even greater than you can imagine. The race of the Firbolg will rise again!”

“I think not.” Liam said as he walked over to Daigh and slugged him so hard he hit the ground.

The General’s nose started to flow with blood running down his face making him look even more sinister. Daigh looked up at Liam scowling and spat out more blood feeling a tooth fly loose.

“You are not as tough as you seem Milesian. You are pitiful. Crying over a woman. You will die like your father with a sword in your belly. It may not be by my hand this time. I revel in the thought of you and your precious Danann and Milesian people groveling at Lord Faolan’s feet begging for your lives.”

The general laughed a creepy hysterical laugh which Kayne quickly put an end to. Kayne could have sworn he heard the wicked man whisper Paili’s name before he fell over. Hearing what the Firbolg said made Liam sick to his stomach. He turned, fell to his knees and retched on the ground. All those lives lost and for what? He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked at General Kayne and General Ruark with a haunted look in his eyes.

“Lara was right. I should have listened to her. Now she too might be lost.” Liam stood and stumbled as he turned and headed back to their camp in a daze.

Niall and Scanlon reached where Ruark and Kayne were standing watching as Liam stumbled through the battlefield.

“I will make sure Liam makes it to camp. Scanlon, you better talk to Kayne first.”
Niall ran jumping over bodies to head Liam off and walk the
rest of the way back with him.