BOOK ONE:

A MAN OF THE WILD

Chapter Three:

The Lady of the Hunt

Artemis ven Turthin, head of OLYMPUS and great aunt to the elven queen, tapped the top of her pine desk irately. Lips pursed into a thin line while Matthias Smith and Karen Gillian hesitantly related the events of Stonehenge and the disappearance of her very danger-prone niece, Brianna Davis. They fell silent long before she actually noticed they ceased chattering at her. Her mind was too distracted – too lost in consideration – to notice something as trivial. Nothing else mattered than this one thing.

She lost the elven queen.

Again.

It wasn't the first time Brianna disappeared. She'd hidden herself among the human race before she was finally discovered by one of the OLYMPUS elves and brought back to finish her training. Artemis remembered how reluctant Brianna was to return. Years of isolation from the rest of her peers for daring to show no magical ability took its toll and caused her to become particularly attached to the first elf to both show her compassion and take her seriously. Wisdom gained from being Athena's sister allowed Artemis to turn to the one person she knew would do anything for her to help change her niece's perception of reality. A team was formed - each member one of her most brilliant trainees - and Brianna thrived. She thrived so well that she went on to become one of the most successful huntresses since Athena's reign and, later, queen of the elves.

She shook her head. My niece certainly has an affinity for drama, she thought.

Now her niece managed to get herself pushed through some sort of sorcery birthed wormhole and was no longer on Earth. Of all the irritating things that could happen to the girl it had to be a wormhole to Triune knows where! Artemis, though she didn't look it, was beside herself with worry. Brianna hadn't been in a good state of mind when she'd sent her on that mission. Her appearance had been clean and neat, but very plain and clearly thrown on. Her hair had hung limply from her head as if no longer shown with the brilliance it always had ever since she awakened her ability to use the elements. The empty expression in her eyes kept Artemis from being able to think peacefully on anything for a couple of nights.

And the look she gave me when I told her to let the victims die, Artemis thought. That will stay with me for a good while.

"What kind of portal do you think The Morrighan created?" Artemis asked when she finally noticed that the two had stopped talking.

"One that took Brianna away from this world. She isn't here," Matt said. "I was reading the area. It barely showed on the scanners, but from what I could tell there's some sort of tainted scar in the fabric of the space-time veil holding reality together."

Both women blinked at him. Smith blinked right back as if confused as to why they hadn't understood everything he'd just said.

"Blue Wizard Smith. Did you just use a bunch of made up science fiction bullshit to try and explain the relativity of space and time?" Artemis asked sharply.

Matthias blushed a hilariously deep shade of crimson and began stuttering some sort of apology. Karen waved him back and leaned her hands on Artemis' desk. Her red hair - typically tied in a bun - had been pulled back into a over-the-shoulder braid and hung over Artemis's desk.

*"What he's tryin' to get at is that The Morrighan used sorcery and necromancy to punch a whole through space," the Scottish metal witch translated.

Artemis nodded and leaned into the back of her leather armchair. The Morrighan created a breach through The Great Expanse to another world. Why? What had she to gain from the venture? By all accounts her niece had plunged one of her daggers into the bitch's chest and The Morrighan hadn't put up much of a fight.

She's killed two Raiphahim now. More than that she's rid the world of the two worst to walk among us. Ba'al's carefully laid plan to overthrow the royal line has failed. The Morrighan's plan is now in jeopardy. Are we done? Is this the end?

For a moment, she allowed herself to consider the possibility that a sort of tentative peace could arise now that The Morrighan was dead. That moment was shattered when she considered certain entities besides the Raiphahim who were willing to do just as much damage as their predecessors. Some were students of the recently departed monsters. They'd bide their time for only a short while before they, too, gathered enough momentum to strike and wreak havoc across earth and possibly beyond.

"I don' know what The Morrighan was up to, but I can say I saw something between the stones," Karen added startling Artemis out of her thoughts.

A bit disgruntled at having to resist the urge to jump twelve feet out of her chair she grunted at Karen to go on. The red head, conscious of Artemis' mood, proceeded with her explanation.

"An eye made out of flames," she said and Artemis could hear her Scottish brogue thicken her accent.

But she wasn't particularly paying attention to the witch's accent. She had felt the bottom drop out of her stomach at the mention of the eye. The good professor had many stories to tell about a dark being – like a lesser angel from a far away realm – as evil as Abaddon who was hell bent on striking out the light of this world. If Brianna was there… if their enemies were trying to get there…

"Well shit!" She spat and stood.

The moron she was left her phone in her room and she needed to make a call.

Laurel Moruni, Professor of Historical and Cultural Studies, hated plane rides. They were incredibly dull affairs in which at least two hundred people sat in a small confined space and waited for the rickety contraption that was an airplane to land three to five hours later. Somehow the humans managed to pass the time by reading, writing, watching some inconsequential tripe on Netflix or Amazon, or sleep. Thankfully she had the funds for first class seating. It kept her from having to deal with other people's children. She already had brain dead university students. Experiencing the result as it attempted to reproduce was extraordinarily taxing.

There were promising candidates over the thousands of years she'd lived. Many were human, some were elves, a few faerie or dwarves. They managed to do the impossible and exceed her expectations. Some were still alive, though the pool of her former proteges dwindled year-by-year. Right now, there was one she taught exclusively and she managed to get herself trapped in Arda! This was news based solely on what the child, Artemis, managed to convey. The lady huntress hadn't sounded too frantic in the voice message she left her, but there was some strain. The Lady of the Hunt sounded worried and Laurel wished she could offer comforting words that would banish that fear into oblivion.

If only this fear was unfounded. Then I could go back to my ridiculous students and let Davis sort out her own mess, she thought.

Laurel opened one of her notebooks and began to jot down everything she remembered about Arda, their elves, their rulers and the Dark Lord Sauron. She'd only visited the place three times. There was little she actually knew and that little she did was ominous.

If Sauron has regained his strength like Mithrandir predicted I can't imagine what sort of thing could entice him to fight with the knight elves, she thought.

What made it worse was that she couldn't propose anyone better. The Morrighan was dead which should have heralded the final end of a movement that Brianna began stamping out years ago. Killing The Morrighan should have been easy. Brianna should have returned to her teaching post at Cambridge a little worse for wear, but with the assurance she'd recover in time.

She shouldn't have been naive. Nothing was ever that easy.

"We are nearing Juno, Alaska. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for descent," the stewardess said over the intercom.

Laurel stowed the notebook back into her bag and leaned back into her seat. She turned her head toward the window and dully watched the ground grow closer.

Mafortion Japethelion waited for his mother to disembark. He wondered what she looked like as he hadn't seen her for almost fifty years, though he spoke with her by letter or phone frequently. Did she cut her hair into a bob? He knew she'd considered it once in the roaring twenties. The years had separated them for long stretches at a time and the eventual meetings were always a bit of a shock. Briefly they would meet, but only to leave each other again to go about their business in their own way.

Terminal fifteen began to disembark. People crowded out of the plane as quickly as they likely border so they could continue on in their journey. After ten minutes a tall red headed woman trailed out of the plane behind a gaggle of teenagers chattering excitedly about the idea of skiing in the mountains. Maf felt himself tense as his mother moved around them and glanced around the terminal with grim green eyes.

He raised an arm and her eyes snapped to his. He smiled wanly. Being friends was difficult for the both of them, but more so for him than for her. Maf still looked at her as his mother. She saw him as her equal and expected as much from him. Such had always been her way whether he wanted it or not.

"I distinctly remember you telling me that airplanes will pave the way towards the future. I'm inclined to disagree. They're just as unpleasant as stage coaches," she said brusquely.

"They rejected my designs," Maf said offhandedly.

Professor Laurel Moruni smirked at him, "For someone who knew the Wrights personally you haven't retained much influence with the airlines."

"I'm not as influential as I look, mother," he responded dryly.

"Clearly. I'm assuming Artemis contacted you as well?" She asked.

Maf pushed air through his nose very slowly so as to not make it seem like he was frustrated with her. Professor Laurel Moruni hadn't birthed children in almost five hundred years. He needed to remember motherhood wasn't extended to those who no longer needed it.

Some motherly concern would be nice, though, he thought.

"Karen called me as I was their teacher at OLYMPUS. I suspect she thought I should know," he said.

His mother nodded, "As you should."

Silence descended between them like an iron curtain. Maf walked her down to Baggage Claim. Silence dragged on as technicolored boxes, bags and thick camouflaged duffles tumbled onto the conveyor belt. Childern squealed as they dashed to snatch up their little pink and blue suitcases. Business suit clad adults dipped casually to grab a solid plastic contraption colored in different shades of black or blue while clutching briefcases. Laurel crossed her arms and tapped her foot against the ceramic floor before she reached down and grabbed a strapped brown bag.

"Brianna is our apprentice respectfully. We must search for her dutifully as is the right earned by her. Never let it be said that anyone I consider my own be abandoned because I simply felt too old to care," she said as they ventured out into the rapidly depleting autumn afternoon.

Maf, who could never think of a day when his mother hadn't watched over her children or her students, simply nodded and directed her to the garage he'd stored his car for the hour he'd waited for her. Fifteen thousand years Professor Laurel Moruni walked the new creation. Every fiber of her being had been dedicated to protecting it from the harms servants of the Evil One sent against them. She watched over the human races and mitigated their petty disagreements to churn their leaders further away from selfishness and conceit to the betterment of their people.

They stopped before his mode of transportation and she turned to him with a slight quirk of an auburn brow. Maf shrugged and pressed the buttons of his remote keys that unlocked his 2017 Jeep. Laurel rolled her eyes and loaded her bags into the back. It wasn't like he would ever get to use it to enter OLYMPUS, but he liked toying with the clever new contraptions the car company fit into it.

They were in Anchorage, Alaska and it was going to take about an hour to drive towards the nearest small town. Once they passed it a hidden street to the elven town outside of OLYMPUS would open its gates to them and they could cut through the mountains.

Our dwarf friends must have enjoyed building that, he thought fondly.

His mother nodded her head, "I did help them design it."

He sighed and backed out the parking space. One day she would learn to stop listening to people's surface thoughts and memories, but it was clearly not this day.

OLYMPUS was a great fortress built around the top of the mountain and straight down into it. Once it had been a volcano. The elves and the dwarves dug and sifted and warded and magicked until the pressure subsided and allowed the hot liquid rock settle within its chamber. Periodically they had to redirect pressure to another volcano, but that was rare. At least, that was the story Artemis chose to stick with. Maf was never entirely sure about her complete honesty. The huntress certainly acted like an elf who spent time in court. Lady Artemis met them in the large entrance hall and bowed to Professor Moruni and even to Maf though the one she turned him wasn't low nor reverent.

"You know why we're here?" Artemis asked Laurel.

His mother inclined her head, "My student's unending ability to land herself into trouble, I presume?"

"However did you know?" Lady Artemis asked.

"I've met her."

"What, exactly, has my wayward apprentice landed herself in?" Maf asked.

Part of him, a small part of him, needed them to remember that he was in Brianna's life since the beginning. He was the one who taught her how to fight without magic. He taught her the importance of using runic equations to give her an unexpected edge. He'd protected her against Ba'al when the bastard neatly sliced and diced her best friend and lover into a pair of ribboned flesh and bone. The Professor may have taught Brianna how to use magic and think as logically as she could, but Maf taught her how to survive.

"The Morrighan was performing a ceremony of a most gruesome nature at Stonehenge five days ago. Brianna, Matt and Karen ambushed them. My niece killed The Morrighan and in turn, as the bitch died, the Morrighan pushed her through whatever breach was made and we haven't seen hyde nor hair of her since," Artemis explained.

"And that flaming eye? Karen's certain she saw it?" Laurel asked.

There was a tone that Maf hadn't heard in a very long time. It caught him off guard and prompted him to look at his mother. A worried frown creased his forehead while he studied her calm expression and hard gaze fixed unflinchingly on Artemis. The lady huntress didn't wilt. Her back remained straight and eyes steel as her grey eyes continued to relentlessly meet his mother's green.

"It seems to be the case. I've sent Matt to Stonehenge and asked for Loki and Ailya's presence in Roswell and Cairo. They will likely have some sort of answer to this conundrum, but all we know, now, is that something is wrong with whatever separates us from Arda."

Maf frowned and crossed his arms. Grey eyes met his green ones and he studied Artemis for a while. She was trying very hard to hide it, but the signs were there. A worried hunter or huntress was never a good sign. When that hunter or huntress was Lady Huntress Artemis ven Turthin - a woman rarely shaken - it spoke of how dire the situation was.

"Few can walk through the worlds without help. The Morrighan likely utilized a series of ceremonial sacrifices," Laurel said softly and crossed her arms.

"With so many points of entry," Maf muttered and raised one dark brow at the Lady Huntress.

Artemis' eyes contracted into smaller points. Her skin paled. Beside him Laurel tensed and sucked in a quick breath.

"You don't think-," Laurel breathed.

"I'll bet my remaining years of youth," Maf replied confidently.

Artemis didn't contribute. She had whirled around toward the staircase and whipped out her phone. As she thumbed several texts in quick succession Maf heard her mutter "shit, shit, shit."

Despite the gravity of the situation, he smiled.

Three weeks prior…

Mab once was the queen of the fair folk in the older, darker days. Those were ones of glory - filled with the high fae terrorizing the petty humans who lived in the triple islands. She enjoyed playing with their mortal kings and queens, twisting their hearts and minds one way and then the other, giving them everything they wanted even if they thought they didn't want it. A child would be stolen to live in her court for a time. When it was old enough she sacrificed it to the void beyond for the power it gave her.

Such a time passed away with one swift strike by the "Wise Queen of the Elves" as all the Fae whispered, some in fondness and others in fear. Mab never fought for the love of her people. She didn't think she needed to. When many turned on her in favor of the elven queen there was little she could do save flee. Flee she did – far into the wild – and hid for many long years biding her time until the day came when The Morrighan found her hunched over in her hovel with a proposition of revenge.

Now she stood at the cusp of it all. The Morrighan was dead – killed by the very whelp of the elf queen Mab hated – and she was the only one left. All who worked for the goal were slowly defeated in the past millennia.

Until now.

The three sorceresses of night stood in a circle at the center of the crumbling throne room. Once it had been the palace of the elven kings of Greece. The golden age of sorcery among the elven nobility many said. Mab certainly held that opinion. It began with King Zeus' attempt to stamp it out of his family. Queen Athena ended it by sealing Hades and Persephone and her half-brother Aries into the seventh gate of hell. Mab smirked at the thought. Athena, the one propped up by her people and the peoples of earth as wise, had made a decidedly unwise decision.

The bitch should have killed them when she had the chance, she thought and removed her cowled hood to reveal a long, fair face, cat-like blue eyes, a glistening blond hair that seemed to shimmer with dark fire along each strand.

Casually, she motioned for the three head priestesses of the Triple Goddess to begin. Nyx, Hecate, and Daenith, the elven sister of Morgana le Faye, began to chant, swaying in the middle of the room. The weak point in earth's reality shimmered and Mab drew in a breath as the air began to smell of sulfur and rotten flesh. Her feet trembled as the ground shook under them. The middle of the room's floor cracked and crumbled away. She stepped forward to an empty edge. Mab's lips curled back into a sneering smile that revealed needle-pointed incisors.

She laughed and jumped into Sheol.

*FOOTNOTE*

*I changed the whole "let's write a character's accent out completely" thing I had going there for a while.