Dark Isle(38)

Aednat paced the edge of the Barrier, chewing on her fingernails. “They sing to them, like pied piper from stories and the humans follow. They have just enough fae blood to let them hear the Banshee’s song, not enough to let them see the truth of the Banshee.”

 “Would they follow you, if you sang to them?” I asked, my heart pounding with hope. This had to work; it had to give us the chance we needed to save Luke.

Her eyes widened. “Yes, Aednat sings, humans follow. But only once they are out.”

Frustration filled me. “Aednat, how do we get them out?”

“Banshee has to lead them, a Banshee has to create an opening,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She leaned in and touched the Barrier, her hand sliding through as if there were no obstacle. “But too many are here for Aednat to lead them out.” Around her hand and body was a small opening.

I glanced over at the fallen body of the Banshee guard. “What if we used her body, propped it in the way?”

Aednat nodded. “Might work.”

With no time to waste, I ran over and dragged the lifeless body back to where Aednat stood. I laid the Banshee out along the bottom edge of the Barrier and an opening about five feet high and two feet wide appeared. Perfect to squeeze some people through.

Aednat started to sing, her whole body getting in on the act. Hands lifted above her head, they twirled in the air as she danced around the edge of the Barrier. At first it didn’t look as though they could hear her.

Then, slowly, they lifted their heads as a unit, a giant shambling horde of zombie-like humans that shuffled their way to the edge of the Barrier. I crossed my fingers as they drew close.

“Come on, work, work,” I said. It had to work, it just had to; otherwise, we were beyond screwed.

With a speed that bordered on painful, the trapped humans made their way through the opening, stumbling over the downed Banshee, their feet shuffling along as they drew close to Aednat. A small sigh of relief escaped me and Aednat at the same time. She gave me a smile, her face lighting up. “Aednat has them.”

I gave her a little shove. “Go on, get them out of here. Go southwest, I think that will be better.” That would bring them out by the lake, close to the highway.

With a nod, she trotted to the head of the column, her voice rising and falling. As the song began to pick up speed, so did the human’s movements. Singing, trilling out words that made my heart want to leap and my feet follow her commands, Aednat sang loudly, the intention clear. In the space of a few heartbeats, the humans were trotting behind her, the entire group disappearing into the trees.

Are you going to wait here for the Banshees to show up? Or do you have a plan? Cora’s sarcasm was not lost on me. Of course I didn’t have a plan. She knew it and so did I.

“I’m going to stall them, give Aednat a chance to get the humans out.” It surprised me how fast I came to identify with the Tuatha, placing “humans” in a completely different category than myself.

“What if I made my own Barrier?” I said.

It would slow them, but you couldn’t fight and you’d be trapped. You need to be able to fight and run.

I stared down at the body of the Banshee I’d killed. Her limbs were like a mangled pretzel, blood pooled around her head. I’d done that, with a single bolt of power. Coughing, I turned my head and took a slow breath in an attempt to push the nausea away. Her broken body was etched in my mind though, and I couldn’t make it disappear.

Focus Quinn, grieve later. Cora was right; I did not have time to be squeamish.

An idea forming, I bent and retrieved the scythe. I’d never learned how to use Glamour, but it was there in my blood, like all the other abilities that I’d been learning. Forcing myself, I stared at her face, tried to memorize the lines and curves of her jaw, shape of her eyes, colour of her hair.

Holding the scythe up, I stared into the reflective surface and thought about the Banshee’s face. Finally, I gave up, closed my eyes and willed it to happen. I needed this Glamour to work, as much as anything I’d tried so far; it was a desperate need. My skin began to tingle around my eyes, lips and nose, intensifying until it was like I was touching an electric fence. Power rushed through me, then began to fade. I let go of it with a gasp, dropped the scythe and put my hands on my knees. Opening my eyes, I angled my head so I could see in the scythe’s surface. I’d done a pretty good job and the Banshee stared back at me.

A moaning wail floated towards me from the tops of the bluffs. Crap, they were almost on me!

Using the same technique, I put my hands on the Banshee’s face and placed a Glamour on it, turning it into my own. The skin jumped and leaped, twisting until I was staring down into my own stilled and broken face. Again the nausea rose and I turned away from the body.