Chapter 4: The Third Crown Piece

Nuada summoned a fairy, sending it off to fetch a healer immediately. He untied Caoimhe, laying her by the warmth of his fire. He continued with his healing spell, doggedly keeping her heart beating and air flowing through her lungs. She was starting to struggle against him, drawing on a wellspring of strength that quite surprised him with its depth. Perhaps she wasn't as weak as he had thought. He stood up gratefully when a healer emerged from the darkness only a few minutes later. Wink was with him, obviously concerned that the healer might be for Nuada. He grunted with relief in finding Nuada unharmed.

The healer, Loro, bowed to Nuada; then at his nod, turned his attention to the human. His lips became very tight as he tallied her wounds, but he kept his accusatory thoughts to himself. He quickly mixed an elixir and expertly tipped it down her throat. Caoimhe looked better within seconds, her colour brightening and her breathing smoothing out. Loro gently separated Caoimhe's blood-soaked hair, revealing a gash extending back from her temple. He considered it with a frown. Next, he carefully probed the damage to the back of her head; Nuada cast a startled look at the wall where she had hung, and noticed the blood on it for the first time. Loro turned his attention away from Caoimhe's head, running his fingers over her bruised and cut wrists.

"The human is no longer in mortal danger, Your Highness, but she has been badly injured," Loro informed Nuada. He turned Caoimhe's face toward the light, pulling up an eyelid and studying her pupil, before surveying the blood staining her face. He pursed his lips, silently debating how to chastise the prince for damaging her mind so needlessly. "Your mind is far too strong for her, Sire. She's just a child, and a human one at that."

Nuada glared at Loro, eyes narrowing dangerously, but chose not to berate him. All that blood was mute testimony that he had handled the human more forcefully than was necessary. But a child? Nuada cocked his head, looking at Caoimhe. He supposed she was, compared to the centuries old elves, but not by human standards. She was old enough to be accountable.

Loro linked his hand with Caoimhe's, closing his eyes. He raised his chin thoughtfully as he looked gently within her mind. "Already, she's trying to escape, to hide in the darkness, safe from her torment. Without careful watch over the next 12 – 24 hours, she won't be able to find her way back, and we will lose her. I will stay with her, as a light to guide her back. I also need to clean and dress her wounds, Your Highness - where shall I take her?"

"Send the human home, Brother."

"Nuala!" Nuada spun around, his face lighting up. He crossed quickly to her, laughing like a delighted boy. "Welcome, my sister!" he grinned, reaching out to her with a short bow.

Nuala extended her head in return, rejecting the touch he clearly offered. She moved toward the fire and the fallen human. Nuala looked down at Caoimhe, perplexed. What did their father see in this girl?

"Or, let me take her to the palace, Brother, if you are unwilling to return her to the human world," she continued, glancing back at Nuada.

Nuada joined Nuala, the joy in his face fading. "Father sent you," he asked without inflection, knowing the answer.

She nodded, her gaze still on Caoimhe. "Father must have anchored her statue to her - it bled, as she bleeds. He sent me to you as soon as he realised that you had finally found the human guardian."

"With a message for me?" Nuada guessed, looking at his sister's luminous face.

She nodded again, jerkily. He could feel mixed emotions radiating from her, knew that she was aware of the magic placed on the human by their father, and as puzzled by Balor's odd behaviour as he. Nuada considered his sister in silence, then turned to Loro and Wink.

"Mr. Wink, please show Healer Loro where the human can be cleansed. Help him if required." Nuada plucked Caoimhe up effortlessly, placing her into Wink's outstretched arms without any special care. He and Nuala watched as Loro followed the troll away.

Nuada turned to meet Nuala's golden eyes. He exhaled sharply, frustration on his face. "Nuala, I forced that damned human to relive her audience with our father, and yet I still fail to understand why Father behaved as he did!" Nuada ground out. "You were there, my sister: can you explain our King's actions?"

His frustration was echoed in her expression. "No, Brother. No. I cannot." She shook her head, moving restlessly. "I don't understand any part of what happened between the crown pieces, the human, and our father." She caressed her crown piece thoughtfully, dwelling on that day. "I had no notion that the crown pieces would talk to each other."

Nuada considered the crown piece on Nuala's slim waist. "The third crown fragment talked to our father directly," he reported. "It explained what the human could not, about the plot against our people. It mentioned Avardal... does that make any sense to you?"

Nuala looked surprised. "Avardal? That makes no sense, even if the crown is goblin-made."

"I don't understand it either." Nuada paced restlessly. "The crown fragment asked to be destroyed, Sister, to save all of us," Nuada continued. He took a deep breath. "The human did as it requested."

Nuala looked horrified, then relieved. "So the Golden Army will sleep forever," she said softly, "and we will fade without further blood on our hands."

"We will not fade!" Nuada snapped. "Even without the Golden Army, we will find a way to regain our heritage!" Nuada steeled himself. "What message do you have for me?"

Nuala offered him an ornate cylinder.

Nuada removed a parchment from it, turning it toward the light. His black lips grew thin. He crushed the message, staring furiously into the flames.

"What does Father say, Nuada?"

Nuada's face briefly shone with joy at hearing his lovely sister say his name. "You saw him bless the human. You know what he now commands."

"That you spare her life?"

Nuada snorted, looking darkly at his sister. "That I guard her life!" He threw the parchment into the fire with unnecessary force. "That I, Silverlance, protect a human!"

Nuala sighed, puzzled. "Because she held the crown fragment within her flesh?" she mused, "But if she destroyed it, why would our father charge you to guard her?"

Nuada looked sharply at Nuala, struck by her words. A sudden, unwelcome thought came to him. He reconsidered what he had witnessed in Caoimhe's memory of her audience with the Elf King. Was the magic he had found woven into the very fabric of her being all from Balor's blessing, or was it also from the crown piece? Unthinkable as it was, could the power of the third crown piece have infiltrated its human guardian when the crown piece died? Nuada's eyes grew wide. If so, that meant that for the short span of her earthly life, Caoimhe tied to his people; to their wellbeing!

"Come with me, Sister!" Nuada barked, pulling Nuala toward his elegant bathing suite. They found Loro there, rubbing salve on the human's wounds. Wink stood above them, the expression on his face hard to interpret. Caoimhe looked very insignificant, stripped to her underwear and lying unconscious on a bench in the warm, humid room. Bruises echoing the strength of Nuada's fingers were livid on the pale skin of her arm.

Nuala gasped when Nuada snatched her crown fragment from her gown. She tried to seize it back, but her twin impatiently shook her off. He cocked his head, fluidly crouching to bring the crown fragment near Caoimhe's pale flesh, where the One Tree glowed softly in the diffuse light. He and Nuala both gasped as the crown piece began to sing, his voice haunting. Next, to their amazement, the human began to shimmer as the ghost of the third fragment responded. Caoimhe stirred, her expression echoing the emotions produced by magic playing over her. The third crown piece voiced a hauntingly beautiful, painfully brief lament, before falling silent. Nuala's crown piece was left singing alone. The aching grief in the song was chilling.

Nuada stood up with a grim expression, handing the second crown piece back to his sister. Nuala snatched it from him, placing it back in its holder and moving away. She was shaken to her core to see a human enjoy something so wonderful, of which all she could sense was but a distant, tantalising echo.

"The human must live then, as our King commands," Nuada bit out, his fists clenched. He met Loro's eyes. "I was the one to hurt her; it will be my penance to care for her now."

Nuada turned to Nuala. "Tell Father that his command will be obeyed, Sister. I will return the human to her home and see that she is safe there." He wrapped Caoimhe in a cloak and picked her up carefully. "Mr. Wink, please escort Princess Nuala back to the palace, then join me. Healer Loro, come with me."