Dark Fae(34)

Bres’ eyebrows shot up. “You okay?” I waved him off. “Yeah, just trying to work things out.”

Carnwennan came free from the scabbard with a soft, sliding snick. I held my breath as my mind raced. How was I even going to attempt this? Everything I’d done with my powers had been based on instinct and need. I neither needed this curse to be lifted, nor was I in dire straits, being forced to survive.

Closing my eyes, I thought about how Nuadha had held Excalibur high, how it had flashed bright, and then how the curse had taken hold.

The sound of the surf was deafening against the silence as I tried to see what I could do, tried to figure it out. Fomorii were creatures of water, and I, Lir’s daughter, had stolen Card’s power over the water. Maybe that would be enough. I opened my eyes and climbed the dune, then jogged out to the water’s edge.

With a quick thrust I drove Carnwennan into the soft, wet sand, the waves washing up around the blade. I knelt in front of it in the surf and put my hands on the hilt, gripping the bone handle. I thought about my father, about how the powers he, Card and I had were connected to all the water, everywhere.

Fomorii were creatures of the water, born and raised with the ocean. All I could think of was how salt water was cleansing, how it could help a wound heal, and keep infection at bay.

Carnwennan began to glow and I let my power flow through the blade and into the water, through the ocean and through that connection to them into the people of the Fomorii. I could feel each one of them, could sense their living force as if they each stood next to me. Some, though, were afraid; they didn’t want what I was offering. They didn’t want what Gormley wanted.

I shifted the power and gave them the choice. A bright burst of energy spilled out of Carnwennan. I held on, not realizing that I was screaming along with Gormley, who writhed in the waters beside us, her body contorting and twisting as the curse lifted.

With a final burst of light and power, I slumped over the sword. My body felt wrung out.

Bres put one of my arms over his shoulders and helped me to my feet. Without a word, he pulled Carnwennan from the surf and slid it back into my scabbard for me. “Thanks,” I whispered. My throat was sore.

“We’ve got to go. Now.” He was dragging me away, and though I tried to get my legs to work, there wasn’t much I seemed able to do. A sob reached my ears. Someone was crying.“Where is Gormley?”

We half turned to see a wizened old woman, naked as the day she was born, sitting in the shallows. Her skin hung off in wrinkled folds, but she was smiling. “You did it. You are the Chosen one! This is the prophecy coming to light, bringing our worlds back together!” She wobbled to her feet and, the best her old body would allow, and she began to dance, sending up sprays of water as she kicked and hopped.

There was shouting from Nuadha’s camp, and it was getting closer. “We’ve got to go,” Bres said again. “Gormley, you’d best hide yourself.”

She spun to face us. “Never again, boy.” Lifting one age-spotted hand, she waved to us. “If I die this night, I will die happy, and in my own body.”

I lifted my hand, waving to her as Bres half-dragged me down the beach. I really was trying to move my legs, but they just didn’t seem to get the message.

A snort and a splash off to our side made us spin around. Raising my hand, I prepped a power bolt. Or at least I tried to.

There was nothing left for me to use; I’d drained my powers. I looked anxiously for the source of the sound then hissed, “Bres, I can’t feel my power anymore!” I didn’t try to hide the panic that was filling me. How was I going to face Chaos without any way to defend myself?

“It happens to everyone, daughter.” Lir strode out of the water, the Aughisky at his side. “Only I suspect it is the first time for you. Breaking a curse that old and that powerful would have killed most.”

In two strides, he was at my side, helping Bres carry me out into the water. “Hurry, Chaos has sent her army, and we are not in the best of shape to take it on,” Lir said.

They helped me onto the back of the Aughisky that had brought me to the west coast. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He grunted, tossing his mane. “If you can break one curse, maybe you can break another.” There was a glint in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Hope.

Lir cleared his throat.“No time right now, we must hurry.” The Aughisky began to swim out into the ocean and within minutes, we were well past the breakers. Before I could protest, my legs were sucked hard against the Aughisky’s side, like some sort of magnet had taken hold of them, and he dove under the waves.