Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (68 page)

“I love you too Aideen,” is Morna’s
reply.

And then she reaches for Damian who is
standing off to the side a little, he’s not sure what to do. She
hugs him fiercely to her. He asks, “Morna, is there no way I can go
with you? I am supposed to be your protector.” Morna pats his cheek
and says, “Trust me Damian. It will work. Watch over the girls
while I am gone.”

As Morna turns from Damian, Breena hugs her
tight and says, “Go kick some cannibal butt, you brat!”

Morna laughs, and says “Sure thing big sis.”
Everyone in the room chuckles because Morna towers over Breena by a
foot.

Morna turns to take Luca’s hand and says,
“Yeeesh all this fuss! I am just going to another plane of
existence to track down a NA’YU’NUWI.” She rolls her eyes
playfully.

Luca embraces her fiercely and says,
“Reckless woman!” She laughs and winks at him. Her friends laugh
nervously. She walks over to meet Maria, Rinda, and Elias. Luca
follows behind her. She stands before Maria. “I am in your hands
Shaman.”

Maria turns to everyone in the room. “Now I
must ask everyone to remain silent. She needs your support, but not
any distractions from you. She will be aware of everything that
happens here while she is in the other plane. Those of you who have
fought beside her before, take heart, she goes without you by her
side physically, but your support and your strength will go with
her. To those who love her and rely on her. Take heart, she has
promised to return to you after she rids all of you of this
menace.”

‘We will see every move she makes in the
other plane. Her body will move here just as it does there. She
will react to every blow she receives there, here as well. Stay
silent, stay still. Are you all clear? If you don’t feel you can do
that, slip out quietly now.” Maria looks around the room at all the
faces there, and is satisfied with what she sees. “GOOD!”

“Luca come forth and remove your spell, then
Elias, quickly make your examination. And then Rinda must help her
achieve a deeply relaxed state in a very short amount of time. Then
I will lead her to the spirit plane.” Maria looks to Morna and
says, “Take off that green shirt, you will get too hot. You should
probably take those jeans off too.” Morna complies and tosses them
to Sammy.

And then she faces Luca. She is standing
before the entire gathering in a tank top and panties. She had come
to the practice area barefoot. It reminds him of their days as
warriors in this middle world. She would wear only a breech cloth
and breastplate. He quickly removes the spell and kisses her
passionately and whispers so quietly that none but Morna and Damian
can hear, “Come back to me, woman!”

She nods at him and turns to Elias. He
listens to her heart and lungs, takes her blood pressure and temp.
He declares her physically sound, kisses her cheek and says
quietly, “Kick some butt, Pretty Morna!”

Elias steps back out of the way and Rinda
steps forward. She takes a deep breath, looks her dear friend up
and down, and gives her a thumbs up. Then says, “Trust me,
love.”

“I do. I always have, always will,” Morna
assures her.

Rinda brings her hands up before Morna’s
face, and says, “Close your eyes.” Morna complies and Rinda starts
humming, then singing so softly Morna has to pay close attention to
hear the words. The ancient words tell Morna to focus on her
breathing, on her heart rate, to release all tension from her body.
After five minutes Morna’s heart rate and breathing patterns are
identical to when she is deeply asleep. Luca is very impressed with
Rinda’s abilities.

When Maria is satisfied that Morna is ready,
she steps forward and Rinda steps back. Maria takes Morna’s hand
and starts singing in a beautiful, primitive language only she and
George are familiar with. The two women start walking in place. The
observers can tell they are walking up an incline. Their ascent
takes 12 minutes, Luca knows this is a minute for each level of
awareness, or spiritual plane. When they have reached the twelfth
spirit plane, Maria turns to introduce Morna to the guardian, Maria
correctly uses all of Morna’s titles, and reflects proper respect
for each one, and the person who bears them. The guardian who is
unseen by all in the room, allows Morna to proceed. Morna turns to
bow her thanks to Maria and the guardian. Maria bows in return, and
then she waits at the gate for Morna to fulfill her quest.

Everyone observes as Morna searches the plane
for her enemy, the NA’YU’NUWI. To the vampires and those who have
ever watched a vampire hunt it is obvious that Morna has given
herself over to her instincts to track the being she seeks. Her
movements are lightening quick and stealthy. She is obviously
following a scent trail. While she remains in basically the same
space it is apparent that on the spirit plane she is moving faster
than any regular warrior can, and she is moving over rough terrain.
Her movements are surefooted and fleet. She pulls up tense and
bears her teeth in a silent snarl.

Luca and Damian recognize that she has found
her quarry. She creeps a little farther and then leaps flat footed
about 10 feet into the air and appears to jump on her enemy‘s
shoulders and deliver a staggering blow. And then she flies back
five feet before righting herself before she lands. All the
warriors recognize that she has received a vicious blow. She flies
back at her opponent, and delivers an equally vicious blow to the
unseen foe. She then delivers a powerful kick to what is probably
the opponent’s legs. Apparently she takes him off his feet, because
she dives at the unseen foe on the ground. She is snarling
viciously and bites at the unseen foe.

She is knocked back nearly 20 feet, Luca and
Damian tense and hiss because they can smell Morna’s blood. Morna
immediately charges her foe again, she is wielding something like a
sword. Luca is shocked and amazed. He suspects she is attacking her
enemy with his own arm. She has apparently knocked the enemy to
ground because she lunges again, snarls and bites ferociously
again. And then she grabs, what Luca and others take to be an
unseen head and twists it, obviously separating the foe’s head from
his body. She stands and continues to rip the body to pieces. Then
she stands completely erect, surveys her surrounding for other
threats, and then weaves a fire spell over the invisible pile of
body parts.

When she is apparently satisfied the body is
burning well she looks around to check again for other attackers.
Gingerly clutches her right side, the fleshy part above her hip,
she lifts her tank top and examines the bloody gash there. Blood is
flowing freely down her left hip and leg. She winces and applies
pressure with her hand to slow the flow of blood. But she appears
satisfied that the wound isn’t life threatening. She watches the
enemy burn and looks around, vigilant for others who might attack
her. She seems to be watching something in the distance. Her stance
seems tense, and indecisive, but she remains where she is and
doesn’t pursue whatever has caught her attention.

When she is apparently satisfied the body has
been destroyed, she takes off running, apparently back to the gate.
When she gets there she bows and asks for and is granted permission
to leave. On the other side of the gate Maria takes her hand and
leads her back down the path to their own dimension. Maria also has
her hand over the wound. Speaking the same language as before,
repeating the same words over and over. Luca assumes it is a
healing chant.

Damian starts forward when they appear to be
on their way back. Luca whispers too low for anyone else to hear,
“Steady son, she still has twelve levels of awareness to descend
through.” Morna’s head cocks slightly toward Luca’s words. And then
she smiles reassuringly in their general direction. He smiles to
himself. Now he understands what she has been complaining about all
these years. ‘Damn vampire hearing’ indeed.

It is obvious to Luca when Morna has returned
completely to his level of existence. Because she looks directly at
him and mouths, “Help me, Luca.” He is at her side before anyone
else can move. She whispers to him to take her to their room. She
asks for Elias, Rinda, and Maria to join them. On the way Luca asks
what the NA’YU’NUWI had attacked her with. “It’s claws. It had
three claws on each hand, each claw was about 8 inches long and
very sharp, and I suspect very filthy. The thing reeked of putrid,
rotten meat or something worse. I don’t know,” Morna answers
weakly.

“I recognize the smell, love. Its blood is
splattered all over your body. It is definitely the same scent I
detected the night we were attacked,” Luca tells her. Luca gives
Maria a hard look and asks, “Did you know she was facing a creature
with claws like that, unarmed?”

Before Maria can reply Morna speaks up
quietly. “Luca, she knew and I was informed. I knew what I was
getting myself into. I didn’t tell you because I needed you take
the binding spell off of my brain. I am sorry, love, forgive my
deception. Please! But we both know this had to be done.” Luca says
no more, but Morna suspects that she will probably have to answer
for it later.

Elias nearly falters at the anger he feels
radiating from Luca, and almost feels sorry for Morna when she is
well enough for him to unleash it on her. Then his curiosity gets
the better of him. “Morna, were you attacking the creature with his
own arm?” he ask incredulously.

“Yes Elias, I had no other weapon but my own
body. You use whatever is available, we taught you that.” Morna
informs him through gritted teeth.

Morna looks back at Luca, “Darling, that
thing looked like and fought like some kind of vampire. But it had
some kind of scaly armor on its body that reminded me a troll. Some
mutant, magical vampire. So I burned it. It was stronger than any
vampire I have ever seen though. Oh and it was female! Maria, do
you think it might have a mate?”

“Morna, I do not know. Our knowledge of these
creatures is fairly limited. There have only been less than a dozen
encounters in the last six hundred years that I am aware of. How
did you know it was female?” Asks Maria thoughtfully.

“I could sense it was female, it knew me, it
knew Luca. I knew these things about it the same way I understood
the words of your songs and chants. I don’t know how I know, but I
know. It had been trailing us for a very long time, since before
the attack in our glen Luca. It was also terrified when it saw me
coming at it on the spirit plane. It was calling to someone for
help when I ripped its head off. I should have waited until I heard
a name, but I had a clear shot at destroying it and took it. This
may not make sense, but it felt like it was seeking it‘s mother.
And there was a woman there in the distance… a golden woman. She
seemed to be telling me that she was sorry…” Morna is getting
weaker by the time Luca lies her on their bed, and loses
consciousness.

As she goes out her right hand falls open. In
it she is holding a string of beads. Maria looks at the beads and
tells Luca, “I told her we might be able to trace the creature’s
allies if she could bring back a talisman of some sort from the
beast. Luca looks at her hand.” Her hand is angry red and
blistered, the hand is severely burnt. “It burns like hellfire to
bring anything back from the Spirit Plane. I don’t know how she
held on to that all this time.”

Luca mutters under his breath, “She is an
incredibly stubborn woman Maria.” Luca is stroking her forehead and
weaving a healing spell when he asks Maria, “Who was the golden
woman she spoke of?”

“I have no idea,” Maria admits. “I was
outside of the gate and did not see the battle.”

Elias and Rinda have already gone to work on
Morna. Elias dons surgical gloves out of his kit and cleans the
wound, he removes pieces of rotten looking flesh from the gash. He
looks at Rinda and says, “She will need a broad spectrum antibiotic
as well as the spells.” He looks to Luca and says, “Send Brigid in
here please.” Luca leaves so quickly it’s like he just disappeared.
They are back in less than thirty seconds. Brigid had been waiting
near the door in case she was needed.

Brigid and Elias discuss what type of
antibiotic would be best, and then they call Micah in to start the
appropriate I.V. and antibiotic. Brigid also dons surgical gloves
and gathers samples for analysis, and then she helps Elias clean
the wound. They are glad Morna is unconscious because this process
is incredibly painful. Luca knows Morna, and knows that she is all
too aware of it all. Rinda sings the healing songs and weaves the
strongest healing spells she knows. Maria sings a purification
chant. Out in the dining area, everyone is either praying or
singing healing songs, or both.

Morna wakes up a few hours later. The wound
on her right side throbs, and so does her right hand. She looks at
her hand, it is securely bandaged, but her side is only covered
with some sort of sterile dressing. She tries to sit up. Luca is
sitting at the foot of the bed and reaches out to stop her. “Do not
love, you do not want to move yet. The wound is still open. It was
so filthy they were afraid to close it up. They have cleaned the
wound and cut away affected tissue, but it is still pretty bad. It
is healing on its own though.”

“I am sorry Luca, I know you are angry with
me for what I kept from you. Please forgive me.” Morna
whispers.

He is at her side instantly. “I probably
would have done the same thing in your place. I don’t like it, but
that’s not really important right now. Please do not worry about
anything but getting better. Do you hear me? Elias, Brigid and
Micah are quite worried.”

“I know Luca. Unfortunately, I heard it all.
Damn, why can’t I just go out like any other normal person when I
am unconscious?” They both chuckle. “Luca, did you examine the
wound?” He nods, and she asks, “Did they get it all?” He nods
again, and she says, “Well…” she takes a deep breath. “Seal it with
your venom. That will close it and heal it at same time.”