Chapter 53

When Brynna awoke, her body ached from the spasms as the magic ran rampant through her. She groaned as she made her arms and legs work to sit up in the bed she was lying on. Her old bed, she realized. She was back in her room and had been changed into loose trousers and shirt.

She caught her reflection in the mirror as she sat up, grimacing at the burns around her neck. And the necklace was still there, the runes pulsing faintly in rhythm with Brynna's own pulse.

A chill ran down her spine at the horrid object before she saw something dark dart into her room. Brynna turned to see a crow perched on the chair in the corner, eyes faintly glowing a red hue.

Scathach had answered her call for help.

"Many thanks for answering my distress call, Shadowy One." Laying it on thick in Gaelic never hurt, even if it was a huge shot to her pride to do so.

The crow made a few soft noises before transforming in front of Brynna's eyes into a tall, statuesque woman, with hair the color of spilled blood on a battlefield, braided painstakingly into corn rows down to her waist. Her eyes flared bright red before cooling to a liquid amber. A cloak of midnight fell around her shoulders, lined with the feathers of her former shape.

"I believe formalities between us have passed by, have they not, lovely Brynna?" A flirty smile crossed her ruby lips as her eyes hungrily took in the succubus before her. She cocked her head as she spotted Brynna's new piece of jewelry and began sneering, fangs dropping, accompanied with the appropriate hiss.

"Who has placed this accursed collar upon you?" She was clearly pissed, and Brynna was lucky she was against her being collared. Well, at least not by anybody else.

"An unwanted birthday gift from the Morrigan and Hel." Brynna wanted to tug at the necklace, but decided it wasn't worth the plausible shock she might receive.

"And the Bastard let this go on?"

"It was his idea to 'surprise' me with an early birthday party."

"If the Tuatha De were back in power – "

"They are not in power anymore. Nor will they ever be again. Too much has happened in the pat to mend those wounds." Brynna tried to stay respectful in her tone.

"I suppose you are correct." Scathach sighed, then stretch her hand out to motion Brynna forward. She placed a finger to the magical necklace and the blonde swore she felt the icing embrace of the North Winds as something shifted slightly in the jewelry.

"There." Scathach smiled cockily at her work. "Ye ought to be able to have more control of yourself now. You may feed, but be cautious; they placed this abomination on you for a reason."

"My thanks, Scathach." Brynna was relieved to hear that the ancient warrioress could do something about her predicament.

Scathach smiled mysteriously. "No thanking my quite yet. You still have to hold up your end of this bargain. I shall see ye when ye rid yourself of this place. Dun Sciath will welcome ye. I must go before they detect my presence." She bowed before morphing back into the inky bird and flying out the small window.

Brynna sighed, more tired now than she had been in her time here. She just sealed a deal that might end up destroying all she had worked so hard to maintain. She could only hope that Shona would forgive her. She didn't think she'd like being a bachelorette after all these centuries.

* LOST * GIRL *

All hell had broken loose when Bo and crew decided to attack early. Lauren's gunpowder bombs were really effective, scaring the crap out of the unsuspecting guards, giving their side the advantage and taking the Fae out before they got too thick in the area before moving on to the next tower. Shona, now with the pain dulled around her neck, showed Bo the reason why she'd lived so many centuries. The redhead had the earth opening up and swallowing the screaming guards, while also having drowning the others who got too close to the banks of the river. If some got within arm's reach of her, an iron blade quickly took care of the matter. At the moment, the women were behind the last of the towers, preparing to infiltrate Angus' stronghold. Bo and Lauren were arguing and Shona was trying to play mediator.

"No. You are not going in their with a sex addictive Fae walking about the place."

"I walk about with you all the time, Bo." Lauren raised an eye brow and Bo rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, but I'm certain I can take care of myself in their. I have the spear; he shouldn't want to get close to me at all with that in my hands." Lauren was starting to get irritated with her girlfriend. Couldn't she just trust her not to get herself killed?

"Big shafts can be intimidating." Bo smirked. What? She's a succubus. "But I stand by what I said – it is too dangerous for you."

"I'm going in there with you. End of discussion." Lauren was trying not to begin yelling.

"You forget that I'll be there, Bo. I've got her back, and she needs the experience."

Bo stared at the pair with arms crossed over her amble chest. She knew she wasn't going to win this argument and sighed, uncrossing her arms and gesturing toward the large wall of stone ahead of them. "Fine. Lead the way."

Shona smiled and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder before taking the lead. Lauren wrapped her arm around Bo. "You'll be greatly rewarded for this later, I promise." She kissed her cheek before walking ahead of her a little.

Nearing the wall of the fortress, Shona and Lauren began getting a feel for the various rock elementals surrounding the area until they found the one the Fae had quarried the stone. They cajoled the being and before long, the stone began grinding, the mortar chipping and raining down around them. Soon, a sizable gap was created for which the women could easily move through.

There entryway lead into a narrow passage, most likely one used by the servants of the castle to quickly get from one side to the other. Bo grabbed a torch and peered down both ends of the passage.

"Want to eenie meenie minie mo it?" she asked.

"I've got this." Shona placed her hand on one of the walls and a moment later they were walking the right path down toward the main halls, taking out guards left and right.

Soon, they came to the right intersection where Bo would search for Angus and Shona and Lauren would rescue Brynna.

"I'll see both of you soon." Bo said, giving Lauren a hug and a kiss before pulling the Cloak of Arthur over herself.

Lauren blinked rapidly as she saw her girlfriend disappear before yelping with a hand flying to her butt. A chuckle was heard from Invisi-Bo.

"I just couldn't resist."

* LOST * GIRL *

"Who's a good Blair? C'mon." Kenzi tried to coax the grumpy she-wolf hybrid out from where she was hunkered in the corner of the living room, growling at Kieran, Donovan, and Trick as they slowly approached. Her nose crinkled as she caught a whiff of the pungent liquid in the vial in Trick's hand. She sneezed much like a dog would and backed herself even further into the corner.

"This one will totally not suck as bad as the last dozen or so. And we're totally sure this one's gonna work. Right, Trick?"

"Right." Trick talked softly as he watched his furry granddaughter cock her head at their words. She looked back at Kenzi and whined then looked back to her grandfather.

"Maybe we can let Kenzi try it this time? She seems to be Blair's favorite." Kieran said and Blair's tail wagged happily as they began to understand her intentions. Carmen would always make the medicine go down better.

"Fine, but if she starts to hump my leg again, I'm so out. You can tranq her next time." Kenzi rolled her eyes and held her hand out, excepting the vial.

"Deal. I don't know the shelf life of this potion, so the quicker the better." Trick and the boys backed away.

"Okay. Different technique this time, Poocherella." Kenzi inched closer as Blair just wagged her tail at her, making happy sounds. Finally, they'd figured it out! Dyson wasn't there to be her mouthpiece with Hale needing his assistance down at the police station. He dragged along with him the rest of her sisters for assistance.

Blair shuffled forward enough to be in Kenzi's reach, and the Russian woman made cooing noises until Blair was sitting in front of her. She showed the she-wolf the vial and let her sniff it again, her lips curling in disgust of the liquid within.

"Drink all of it down and no hacking it up again in anyone's shoes like the last few times, okay?"

The look on Blair's face held no sign of promising that, but she did her best not to squirm too much as Kenzi popped the vial open and poured it into Blair's open maw.

She whimpered as the nasty taste hit her tongue and slid down her through like syrup. She only wished it tasted more like it felt.

"Good girl." Kenzi grabbed a bottle of water from the table and poured some into the dish used for Blair's water. "Wash it down quick before you start getting woozy again."

Blair lapped up the water quickly and soon she was wobbling on all fours. Kenzi led her back to the mattress and their she passed out.

"So when should she wake up?" Kenzi covered her with a thin blanket and turned back to Trick.

"Could be minutes, could be hours, or days." Trick shrugged. "Let's just keep an eyes on her for now and resume safeguarding this place. Once the others break Brynna out, Angus will be coming for her again."

* LOST * GIRL *

"Lady Brynna? Lord Angus requests your presence." Abheill gently shook her shoulder, and the soft clinking of her chains signaled that the girl had backed up as she began to awake. The throbbing in her neck had subsided, but the static shock she received from lifting her head told her the current were still there lest she forget.

"What does he want?"

"He wishes to discuss a bargain with you for your release."

"You can tell him I will not see him and that he can stuff whatever bargain he has for me up his arse." The white-hot pain suddenly forced its way back into Brynna's life, making her jolt and fall from the bed. Abheill looked frightened as shocks rolled through Brynna's body as soon as her words had escaped her mouth.

"Any resistive behavior will trigger the shocking." Freyja said from the doorway. "Best do what you're told, child. It is not just you being hurt from this."

And then it clicked in Brynna why this magical shock collar felt like it branded part of her essence. They'd tied her aura with Shona's in order to weaken both of them.

"If you hurt her – "

"We're not the ones doing that, Brynna. That is solely on your shoulders. Best be a good daughter and hear what your father has planned for you."

* LOST * GIRL *

"Ah!" Shona grabbed at her neck, nearly doubling over in pain. She used a bit of the energy she had stored in her charm to cut off her nerves from the pain. She needed to get her part done and get Brynna safely back home and in her arms.

"The burns again?" Lauren asked as she kept her eyes trained on the shadows. She gripped the Spear of Lugh tightly in her hands, its power comforting her, imbuing her with the courage and confidence she needed to fight.

"They must be hurting her. Let's get moving." Steely determination was set in her eyes and Shona picked up the pace.

Soon, the tapestries on the wall went from one theme to another, signaling a new section of the castle. The large woven pictures were border with gold and crimson, scenes of battles and victories passing them by as they came to yet another intersection.

"You said red meant we're in the right area?" Lauren asked, looking down to of the four halls to make sure no guards were rounding the corner. She could hear the far off clanking of metal; guards would be here soon and they needed to pick the right hallway fast.

"Yes. Hold on." Shona placed her hand on the wall, trying to pick up any residual memories the stone might have absorbed. Her hand flew from the wall and Shona cradled it to her chest. "This was the place they collared her." Shona panted, trying to concentrate through the pain she felt from Brynna via the stone. "She must be down that way." She pointed to the far right hall.

"Of course, where the clanking metal is coming from."

"The more guards, the better the chance she's being held by them."

As they began going down the corridor, war horns sounded and a rush of guards were spilling in from the opposite way, the sound of swords being drawn deafening.

"We need to get to Brynna before they catch us." Shona threw her hand out in front of her, shouting in Gaelic. Their leather armor and boots fused with the wool fibers of the carpet beneath them, making a procession of metallic dominoes.

"Cut down the left hall and that should lead us farther into the bedrooms."

The two druids took off down the corridor, feet pounding against the rugs and stone, until they came in front of the two giants, a figure chained between them.

"Bryn – " Shona choked up as she felt like her heart was being crushed at the state her beloved was in. She looked tired, older beyond her physical age. She was barely able to stand on her own, leaning against the door she'd been dragged from.

"Shona," Brynna voice was hoarse from the yelling and screaming earlier, "Ye shouldn't have come looking for me. That's what they were hopin' for."

Growls and the thudding of heavy paws signaled the arrival of three giant Skogkatts. They looked hungrily at the two women, liking their muzzles with swishing tails.

"Lauren, get behind me." Shona stared at the giant cats, waiting for any indication they were about to pounce on them.

"But I'm the one with the spear." Lauren argued, getting a better grip on the shaft of the weapon. She wasn't going to let her teacher become kibble.

As they argued, a Skogkatt they hadn't known was behind them pounced, Lauren quickly turning and piercing it through the heart in on quick motion.

The fight was on.