Embers in a Dark Frost

Drem continued to clean itself in the fountain. I leaned against the archway and watched it for a while, thinking of Cathair Crofin, my father, the Lia Fail, and how I would cope if something did happen to Balen.



The thought stirred all kinds of emotions in me. I cared deeply, much, much more than I wanted to admit. I had to protect myself in the event the foretelling was true, and in the event it was not. If we returned home, together, with the Lia Fail, Balen would return to his life, his kingdom, his family, those he cared for. And I wasn’t sure I’d be counted among them.



And I couldn’t help but wonder if I wasn’t the Light Bearer, would he still want me ?



His footsteps made me turn. Balen approached, wearing his black armor, buckling his sword to his waist as he headed into the garden. He said nothing to me, just passed by with a grim expression. Drem flew with four great flaps of its wings to land on Balen’s outstretched forearm.



Balen glanced over his shoulder and gestured toward the exit. It was time to go. I cursed myself for reminding him of our quest. If the foretelling was true, we were one step closer to a horror I didn’t want to face.



* * *



We left without a word to anyone, not even Deirdre or Liath. The rising sun warmed our path as we left the temple complex. Drem took flight, disappearing beyond the treetops.



“Shouldn’t we have asked for horses?” I quickened my step to keep up with Balen’s long stride.



“Horses will not go into Cathair Crofin.”



“Couldn’t you charm the animals?”



“Aye, I could. But my power will be better spent elsewhere.”



I wondered if the power I had would serve me again when I needed it, for I had no doubts we’d confront Nox on our journey to Cathair Crofin. I had to gain control of my ability or else I had no weapon or protection should Balen fall.



“Balen?” I asked. “What do you know about Nox of Annwn? Have you seen him before?”



“Aye.”



I waited for more, but he held on to his secrets. “Did you know him, when he was allied with the other houses? Did you meet him? Why do you think Nox is here in Éire?” I continued, stumbling over a clump of grass.



He stopped suddenly and I nearly plowed into him. “Nox is in Éire because he wants out of the Deadlands. And knowing him, he wants to rule both worlds. We have a long trek ahead, Deira.” He moved by me. “Best to save our breath.”



I lingered there, my jaw hanging open. His unwillingness to talk, to share his past and the things he knew about Nox, the quest, and even me started a slow-building anger. What was he hiding? And the fact that he didn’t trust me, after the things we’d done together, stung.



“Balen!” I marched after him, catching up quickly and blocking his path. “I think I deserve more than that. I’m a part of this. We’re doing this together, yet you pull away, evade my questions, and know things I should probably know too.”



He stood there like a pillar of dark stone, a scowl on his beautiful face. His expression told me he’d rather face another assault by the Fallen rather than share anything with me.



I laughed, my voice tired and hopeless when I spoke. “What in Dagda’s name are we doing? I’m not your Light Bearer. We’re heading into a battle that neither one of us can win, all on the chance that the Lia Fail exists, we can retrieve it, and carry it back to light Innis Fail.”



I placed my hands on my hips and looked around at the vast, rolling landscape of Éire. “We’re walking into Cathair Crofin alone with no legion behind us, all on a chance.” I stared hard at him, his expression remaining unreadable and dark.



A muscle ticked in Balen’s jaw. Unease fluttered in my stomach. There was something he wasn’t telling me, something important. And suddenly I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.



Guilt pricked my conscious. I’d withheld the truth from him as well. I hid Nox, his words, his appearance at the festival, the intimate way he entered my mind, and the unexplainable feelings I harbored for a male I’d never even met. I’d kept my secrets close to me, yet I reprimanded Balen for doing the same. I’d asked him to be open and honest when I wasn’t willing to do the same.



“Never mind,” I muttered. “We have a long journey ahead.” I took a few steps before Balen’s hand on my arm stopped me.



“No, Deira, you’re right. I’ve not been truthful or trusting. There are things; things which I meant to speak of earlier...” His black hair fell into his eyes as he looked at the ground. It had grown longer during our journey. A day old beard had begun to grow on his jaw.



“Nox and I have been enemies for a long time, even during the days of peace when his house was aligned with the rest of Innis Fail.”



“Why did you become enemies?”



“Nox is one of two grandsons of Sydhr. He’s very old, and chose not to retire to the Twilight with the other gods and their families. Just as the other children of the Ageless Ones were given dominion over Innis Fail—the beginning of the four houses—Nox was given dominion over the Place of Souls and the Deadlands. It was banishment, not a gift. For what, I don’t know, but we both share the blood of Sydhr.”



The male I’d seen through the flames had been painfully beautiful and incredibly powerful. He’d spoken in my mind not only here, but when I was in Innis Fail. That he could do so, from across the Void of two worlds, was a testament to his power and lineage.



“Sydhr gifted dominion over Bren Cara and the House of Sydhr to his favored grandson, my great, great, great grandfather, not to Nox.”



I blinked. “So Nox is your great uncle, a few times removed.”



“Aye. And he has hated my house from the beginning. We were also named wardens of the War Raven. Nox covets the creature, for it can traverse both worlds and the Place of Souls, and it’s the only living being whose blood acts as a deadly poison to us. Its blood can also severely wound the Ageless Ones, which is why the War Ravens do not breed, and there are only a few left. Sydhr made it so that our souls bond with the War Raven, we have to protect it if we want to protect ourselves. If it bleeds, we bleed. If it dies, we die.”



I just stood there, staring, those words like an icy slap. To have your life tied to another, to allow it to be free and not locked up safe, spoke volumes about Balen.



We continued across the meadow in silence. The wind whipped at our clothes and hair. The tips of the grass swayed beneath a blue sky heavy with white clouds.



“Balen?”



“Aye, Deira?”



“He’s not tried to stop us. He wants us to come.”



“I know.”



I stopped and waited for him to halt his stride and face me. His brow rose. “It doesn’t change things. The Lia Fail, or what’s left of it, is in Cathair Crofin. Nox expects us, and we must face him.”



“There’s no plan. Just walk right into his territory and what? Let him kill us?”



And that idea was such at odds with the sight before me—the sunlight glinting off Balen’s black hair, his hand resting on the hilt of the short sword at his waist, his cloak blowing behind him, the pommel of his broad sword jutting up from behind his shoulder. He looked calm and sure of what he was doing, and utterly capable.



“The foretelling is the plan,” he offered at length. “And remember, all is not told. We might be successful. And we cannot not try. The forest is over the next beinn.”



I was terrified of what awaited us in the dark forest, of what Nox and Balen would do to one another. Nox had wanted this all along, to exact his revenge on Sydhr’s favored bloodline. Yet, despite my fear, I followed Balen. Someone had to save him…



I thought of the letter I’d written back at the Hall of Records in Falias. He might never read it. There’d be no way now for him to know how much I thought of him and how my feelings had grown since. Unless I told him. The idea gnawed at me as we journeyed to the top of the beinn.



The wind was fiercer there on the high hill, unprotected by trees or landscape. My cloak flapped around me. In the distance the dark line of woods that was Cathair Crofin spread out in the valley below.



Nothing lived there. The sounds of the countryside had ceased. There was no grass, no green near the woods. Like bleached bones, the limbs of dead trees stuck out from the mists surrounded the forest.



The flap of Drem’s wings broke the stillness. Balen lifted his arm and the large raven landed there then folded its black wings. He didn’t caw, move, or blink, just stared at the forest as we did.



An army of three.



A cold dread blew down my back as Balen’s hand slide into mine and squeezed it. I glanced over to see him smiling down at me.



“Give me your other hand,” he commanded.



Drem moved onto Balen’s shoulder as I placed my other hand in his. Both studied me with quiet concentration. A surge of warmth came from Balen’s hands and into mine, travelling up my arms and into my chest. “If I fall, go back to the fathá. They’ll help you get home. Take my warmth and the power of Sydhr to strengthen and ward you against harm.”



“All right,” I said, taking a deep breath. I’d never been warded before. “What do I do?”



He grinned. “Nothing.”



His smile brought out one of my own and, for that moment, it felt like there was only the two of us in all of Éire.



Surprising me, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. The most exquisite warmth and peace filled every space of my body. Energy and a sense of strength came with the warmth, setting me at ease and giving me courage.



When he withdrew, the protection ward remained in me and all around me. I stared at him in wonder.



“I take it no one has given you a protection ward before?”



“No.” I licked my lips. They still tingled with his warmth. “Do you always ward people with a kiss?”



An amused, slightly horrified expression crossed his face—a look that said most definitely not. “You’d be the first, Deira,” he answered, a smile hovering at the corners of his mouth. His attention returned to the forest. “Ready?”