“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” I stood up and stared around the familiar room, breathed in the scent of the old farmhouse. A very large part of me wanted to hide away here, pretend that I was a little girl; the monsters weren’t real, and my sister was safe. That of course couldn’t be, not if I wanted to prove Bres wrong, not if I wanted a chance at getting Ashling back.
“Okay. Let’s see this thing you have to show me.” How could it be any worse than realizing your grandmother had been transformed into a snake by your grandfather, and you’d just let her die defending you? No, it couldn’t be worse.
Right?
Wrong.
Once more we stood at the edge of the water where I’d seen Lir and Balor speaking, but this time there was a battle lined up. Fomorii surged in the waves, their green and black bodies undulating through the water. At the edge of the beach stood a shining mass of people, covered in armour and brandishing swords and other weapons.
My jaw dropped as I stared at the person in the front. It was me, and I had a sword in one hand that shone as if it was on fire, just like the one Nuadha had held as he’d cursed the Fomorii.
“What is that?” I whispered my question. At that moment, I truly understood the saying about quiet and pins dropping. It had nothing to do with silence, but the feeling of anticipation, the pause before the lightning’s strike.
That is Excalibur—the one weapon that can end the evil that will soon stalk the land and water, if Balor has his way.
“Wait, I thought it was Balor that I was supposed to fight,” I asked, a sudden feeling in the pit of my stomach warning me that this was going to be bad. Like, really, really bad. There was a flash of light; I blinked, and in that moment the battle began. In the middle of it were Ashling and I, locked in combat.
She held a sword as black as Excalibur was bright and the blades hissed as they met over and over. We seemed to dance across the sand, our bodies in tune with our weapons. My mouth was dry; I knew what was coming, this was what Luke had warned me about, this was what Bres had seen.
“I don’t want to see this,” I said, whimpering, not caring how cowardly I sounded.
There was a second flash of light and I found myself almost within reaching distance of Ashling. Her face was contorted with a rage I’d never seen before. She didn’t look like my Ashling. I watched mutely as, with a thrust of my sword, Ash was gutted, her hands grasping the edge, slicing her fingers. I screamed and fell to the wet sand, burying my fingers into it as the air rushed out of me. “No, I don’t want to see this!” My voice rang out even louder than the battle that ranged around us.
Excalibur whistled as it was swung towards Ashling’s neck. I closed my eyes. There was a terrible “thwack” as the sword severed flesh, bone and muscle. I didn’t have to see it to know what was happening. The battle slowed around us; the steady thrum of weapons rattling against one another faded as Ashling’s body slumped to the wet sand.
None of the combatants cheered.
Water rushed around me, but didn’t soak the sundress; it washed over my hands, but didn’t get them wet. The slosh of the ocean was icy cold—I could feel that at least—and the scent of salt mingled with the coppery tang of blood as the waves claimed Ashling’s body; her hair brushed against me before she slid into the depths. I couldn’t make myself open my eyes, couldn’t bear to see her body, what was left of her.
“That won’t happen. I won’t let it happen,” I said through gritted teeth. Bile rose up the back of my throat, coating my tongue. “Never! I won’t, no one can make me.”
And if it’s your destiny? If you must do it to save the rest of the world? What then? An old evil rises, Quinn. Older than any other. You must be ready to do whatever it takes to destroy it.
I jumped to my feet and ran with my eyes closed. As the sand turned to pebbles, I opened my eyes and found myself staring out at a mix of forest and ocean, the line between them a thin strip of beach. “I won’t kill her. I can’t; I’d rather die myself.”
“You will see, Quinn. It will be the only way. Balor has made the mistake, but Ashling will pay the ultimate price.”
Pain lanced through me, striking through my shoulder and down into my stomach. Clenching my hands, my nails dug deep into the flesh of my palms.
9
“No.”
Denial was all I had. Another shot of pain ran the length of my body, forcing my muscles tighter and tighter. Agony now held me in its sway. Flash after flash of searing, invisible daggers ripped through me, but I welcomed it. It was far better than the wrenching of my heart.