Chapter 35
Roger had been in plenty of predicaments in his two hundred plus years of life, but this came extremely close to being in his top ten list.
"Feckin' hell!" he hissed suddenly as his injured hand – well, there was no hand there to be injured but you get the gist of it – on the neatly-trimmed hedges lining the cemetery where his wife lay. He leaned against a nearby streetlight and checked to see if the bleeding had started up again. Luckily, it hadn't but he needed to cauterize it soon. He had to get to the portal tomb before they caught up to his scent again.
Shuffling forward, he bent the iron bars enough to slip through. As his feet touched the earth, Roger sighed in relief, the ground here having more sustainable energy for him to use. He gently unwrapped his forearm, exposing the bloodied site of where his hand once belonged. He settled his maimed arm upon the ground, the earth-to-wound contact creating a faster and more powerful healing. Roger gritted his teeth and grunting as pain laced up through his healing arm. He recited the Ogham to block out the pain until it was nothing but a dull throbbing throughout his forearm.
He let out a relieved breath, garnering a few reserves from the land without taking too much, and began stumbling through the graveyard, knowing the path well as he came here every spring on his wife's birthday to place freshly cut honeysuckle vines upon her grave.
Roger smiled as her tombstone came into view atop the hill, hugged on each side were the rowan and hawthorn trees. The shimmering, mystical trip wires suspended inches above the ground between the two protect the space from any unsavory intruders and gave a momentary jolt of energy to any druid who entered. He smiled as the faint, unearthly glowing was a beacon to him. He balanced himself with his remaining hand as the hill got gradually steeper and sighed out a tired breath as he reached the top. He surveyed his surroundings from the new view point and was satisfied when he didn't sense his pursuers quite yet.
He walked over to the modest stone, mindful of the threads, and crouched with a sorrowful look upon his face, the one he always had when he visited his wife's resting place.
"Good evening, Soph. Sorry I don't have any fresh honeysuckles for you, but as soon as they come into season, I'll place twice as many." Roger promised. "Ashliegh's gone, as well as the others, and I hope they've found you. I need your help, love. Lauren's in trouble, as well as the twins. A force far more powerful than I've ever encountered is blanketing this land and I need time to gather the other groves." He held out his injured hand while unsheathing the knife he had at his ankle. Pain seemed not to register with him as he guided the blade across his skin, crimson quickly bubbling to the surface and spilling down either side to the lush green beneath him. "I give this sacrifice willingly and painlessly. I ask for passage and protection for as long as needed." Roger let his blood drip on the ground as he moved his arm in a wide circle, creating the shape with the dark red fluid.
Roger swiped his hand over the wound and placed his bloodied palm just beneath the bold letters of his surname on the stone where lines and dashes of the Ogham had been carved by his hand years ago. As the blood seeped into the small crevices, they illuminated slightly from the power in Roger's blood. A small wind made the grass tickle at his bare feet, culminating in a swirling mass the size of the blood circle he'd created.
Roger stepped back as the wind began pulling up the turf in the fashion of a mini tornado as the earth beneath him seemed to take a breath, bulging until a fissure was created wide enough for a grown man to fit comfortably in. He healed his arm with an absent thought as he walked over to the new opening in the earth, his strength decreasing from the healing of his wounds and keeping the portal open long enough for him to go through and fall off the radar for a few days while his strength replenished.
Roger moved quickly and crawled into the slit of earth, the half of his body in the fissure a mix of blurry translucency. Once his feet hit unseen solid ground beneath him, Roger ducked his head completely disappearing down the hole.
The tingling rush from the powers of the Otherworldly plain made his muscles twitch and the fine hairs along his body stand on in. He took a deep breath, still oddly entranced by how it also smelled of spring fields and pastures, clean water, and peat fires.
He searched around the roomy underground home and found things as he had left them the last time he had used a passage tomb. He groaned as he sat upon the flattened boulder to the side of the room next to a free running spring. He dunked his head into the cold life-giving liquid and came back up for a breath before gulping down a healthy portion that had gathered in the old barrel. He gain some valuable energy from the fresh water enough to keep from slipping into unconsciousness.
Roger ran his hand through his hair, smoothing it back as he began to shrug out of his shirt and learn how to unbutton his pants with his weaker left hand. He stripped down to his underwear and laid down on his right side, grimacing as it still felt weird missing his main hand. He let his tattoos lay completely against the dirt to allow more energy to flow into him as he rested and recuperated. Before he fell asleep, Roger pulled a small twig from his discarded pack. It was a twig from a rowan tree and carved with certain symbols to tell his children that he had made it to the portal tomb. He dug a small hole in the dirt floor before placing the twig at the bottom and filling it in. He lifted his arm the best he could and smacked the ground, a muffled whoomp filling the air. A distant rumble vibrated through Roger's body before he finally let his exhaustion take him. Hopefully, he would be healed enough to venture out and find Lauren by tomorrow.
* LOST * GIRL *
Claire grumbled under her breath as she rode out on her father's land tracking down an errant bull who had escaped somehow during the night. She had seen light spots of blood along the broken fence line and came to the conclusion it had injured itself during its escape. She wanted to find the bovine, treat its wounds, and place it in the spare pen until she could get Liam to re-fence its old pen.
She brought her steed to a halt when she heard the bellows straight ahead. Claire smiled a bit, liking the direction her luck was going as she moved forward once again. The bellows were getting closer and soon the brown and white bull was in view. He was scraping his horns against one of the many rowan trees surrounding their land.
"Fion Rua, you irritating..." Claire began as she dismounted and retrieved her lasso from her saddle. Her words died in her throat and her whiskey-colored eyes widened as she could see the markings the bull was making on the tree. The way the gouges were placed upon the tree, it was clear to Claire that this was her father sending his message.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and quickly roped the bull, pulling until she could safely tie him to her saddle. She was back upon the horse as soon as she tied the last knot and as quickly as she could with the bellowing bull, made her way back to the farmhouse.
* LOST * GIRL *
The inviting aroma of coffee made its way to Bo's nose and she hummed in approval, opening her eyes to see a well-rested Lauren sitting on the ground beside her holding a mug of the steamy, caffeinated liquid.
"It feels good to wake up before you for once." Lauren smiled as she waited for the succubus to sit up and take her drink.
Bo seemed to realize they had both slept under the oak tree for the night and sat up, grateful to Lauren for grabbing her kimono from her room and placing it around her slumbering for some time during the early morning.
"So... Are you okay about...all this?" Bo really didn't know how to broach the delicate subject of Lauren's deceased mother and her now-not-so-deceased father.
"Yes. I think I really am; though, it'll be easier talking to my mother than my father." the blonde sighed as she leaned her head against the imposing oak.
"Give him a chance, Lauren. Let him explain himself. He wouldn't have been with your mother's family if he didn't know what's been going on."
"Knowing him, he's probably been watching me for years now." Suddenly Lauren thought back to a memory. "Come to think about it, there was always this hawk living near where I went to college..."
"Indeed, one of Roger's forms is that of a golden hawk. I'm sure you also remember the snake that found its way into your cabin when you went to summer camp when you were fifteen." Maureen chuckled as she strolled up to them, mindful of Bo's lack of clothing. Her hair was once again whipped into a wild fashion by the winds. "Everyone's ready." She told Lauren.
"Remind me to have a long talk with my dad about that incident." Lauren said to Bo under her breath before speaking clearly again, "I'll be there shortly." The blonde left the couple alone once more
"Speaking of shape-shifting, how do you feel about this test they're giving you today?"
"It's a vital part of of tonight's mission. I've got no room for error."
Bo rolled her eyes at the overly logical answer. "Shona mentioned you've found your animals. Care to share what you'll be for the next few hours while we wait for night time?"
"Well, I don't feel quite up to becoming an owl yet, even though I know the experience of flying will be spectacular, and the same goes for becoming a salmon." She stopped her excited rambling at the wide-eyed expression upon her girlfriend's face. "I'm going to try shifting into a cat." Lauren got to the point.
"You know, Kenzi's gonna have a field day with that." Bo smiled, inwardly giggling at all the innuendos she could think up; she can't help it if the lovable, semi-reformed pickpocket rubbed off on her.
"Yes. And by that devious little look in your eyes, you are too."
"Just a little bit." Bo laughed as she took the punch to her shoulder good-naturedly.
"Is it going to hurt?" The brunette asked as they both calmed and the pussy jokes were over for the moment and the more important questions needed to be answered. Bo wanted to know the details of this latest test.
"It's bones, muscle, tendons, and cartilage repositioning themselves. I'm sure pain is a main factor in all this."
"Now I'm more worried and creeped out."
"Maybe you should take Brynna up on her offer to help with rounds tonight."
"I'm not gonna freak out this time."
"That's what you said last time."
"Well, this time, I was hoping to get more information from you since your family has a tendency to get real cryptic around me."
"It's just their nature, Bo. I promise you I will be fine. Shona's told me I've got the meditations down and will be able to block most of their pain."
Bo sighed defeated. "You're right. I just..."
"Forget that I'm stronger than your average human now?" Lauren finished for her, knowing full well it was a big adjustment for Bo, too.
"Yeah."
"You've got to trust in me that I can take care of myself. If there's any human here to worry about, it's Kenzi." The last sentence made Bo chuckle and she agreed with her blonde.
"Okay. I may have to down a shot before I see you transform, just to calm my nerves."
"You better behave. Shona said if you act like a crazy woman again, she was going to make that low-hanging oak branch give you a wedgie."
"Noted. And I promise to keep calm and hold in my exclamations."
Lauren leaned forward until her forehead met Bo's "I'll hold you to that."
Take that, you funky-tasting energy drinks!
Up next, the bad guys!
~ The Blotness