Dark Isle(26)
“Okay,” I mumbled around a large berry. “We’ve already agreed to be allies, right?”
She nodded, but that wasn’t enough for me. I needed her sworn oath, something I knew she wouldn’t break. But what?
Ask her to swear on the souls of those she met on the other side. Banshees have a reverence for the dead that you and I cannot begin to grasp. Cora’s voice echoed through me and I gasped, choking on the berry I’d been eating. My mind raced; how, how was that possible?
Aednat started to laugh. “Aednat sees your face, someone speaks to you, yes? The other side always sends a guide back for a time. You earn it if you strong enough to fight off the peace of death.”
She’s correct, Quinn. As you fought to live, I fought to be your guide.
I covered my face with my hands; struggled not to break into great heaving sobs of relief. Finally, keeping my words soft I said, “I’m happy you wanted to be my guide, though surprised after . . .”
Bah, I was old and stupid. I should have known better than to take on that bloody rat Banshee. Now, get her to swear on her ancestors, we’ve got things to do. I felt like saluting Cora, but restrained myself. Almost giddy, I did as she suggested.
“I want you to swear on the souls of those you met on the other side that we are allies, and you won’t lie to me, nor turn on me,” I said.
She sat up straighter; clenching her hands in her lap. “Aednat swears on those souls she met on the other side that you and she are now allies, and that she will not lie to you.”
That will do nicely. Cora seemed to fade into the background of my mind.
“I saw things from the past and something from the prophecy,” I said, my heart pounding. Aednat looked excited. She watched me intently, her hands clenching and unclenching. “The souls I spoke with, they told me that an old evil arises. Any ideas?” I already knew it was Chaos that they spoke of, but I couldn’t tell Aednat without breaking my trust with Luke.
Aednat visibly paled, her eyes widening. “There is only one that they could speak of.” She made a strange figure eight motion with her left hand, something I could only assume was to ward off evil.
“Tell me. My ancestors seem to think that we can stop it,” I said.
Aednat again made the figure eight sign with her left hand. “Aednat will tell you, but it is a hard story. A bad story, one that even the Tuatha and Fomorii no longer believe. Only the old gods and those who’ve walked the other side know of this. This evil will destroy the world if given chance to. Destroy, devour, cause chaos.” She shivered, and looked very much like the little girl her glamour showed me she was.
And with that warning ringing in my ears, Aednat opened her mouth to tell me what she knew of Chaos.
“Chaos is the one you speak of,” Aednat said, her voice so slow I had to bend close to hear her. “It is the one that Balor seeks. Chaos will give him great power, more than anyone else. It is too dangerous in his hands.” She held a finger up. “But Aednat knows where they seek Chaos out, Aednat knows where to find that power.”
She leaned forward, her voice lowering. “Deep in ocean, so deep, hidden below water and rocks. Aednat’s ancestor’s souls tell her this, show Aednat where the box is hidden, they tell her one day she needs to tell you, so that you can help Aednat find Chaos.” She pointed first to me and then to the ground she was sitting on. Surely she didn’t mean what I thought she did. The earthquakes and Card—Lir’s son and my half brother—suddenly took on new meaning. What was left of the spit in my mouth dried up.
“That’s what they are doing, that’s what they’re digging for,” I said, certain I was right. “That’s what’s causing the earthquakes.”
A quick nod. “If they let it loose, it must take form. It wants someone to be its body. But who would do that? Who would do that?” She tipped her head. “It is female, this evil. It will want a body like the one it first had. Young, pretty. Like Aednat.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, the strands floating in an errant breeze. A chill swept through me and I stared at her, seeing a glimmer of something I didn’t like in her eyes; she was more dangerous than she seemed. Seconds passed and the glimmer was gone, as if it had never been. I shook off the chill, chalking it up to a lingering effect of the poison.
My brain was stuck though on what she’d said; Balor wanted this box for a reason. Luke thought Balor was after power and control, but that didn’t fit. I didn’t think that was the case. He’d only seemed worried about one thing: Ashling. Worried, but unable to take out the one threat to her—me—because of a promise he’d made to my father. But if he could get something else to kill me, something that had no ties to him, would that free him of his vow to Lir?