Chapter 20: I Don't Want To Lie But I Have To

"Imbecile! Fucking worthless imbecile!" Darrach thought to himself angrily as he punched the grain filled bag he had hanging in his personal gym. "You failed your daughters! Played around like a fucking moron! You don't deserve the power you were given!"

Darrach continued punching the bag furiously, trying to drown out his guilt riddled conscience. He failed Lilly, Rose and O'Callaghan enormously. It was his job to guide them, help them blossom and ensure their safety.

"You had one job and you blew it!"

Sweat beaded on Darrach's skin, wearing a white under shirt and black pants as he continued to punch away his anger. But his anger wasn't going away.

"You should've intervened the moment you found out about the door! No, you should've intervened the moment she was cursed! You were supposed to protect her from all the damn monsters...fuuuuuuuck!"

This wasn't enough. Darrach marched over to one of his baseball bats and grabbed the wooden handle before pulling it from its shelf and storming back over to the punching bag. He swung, hitting the bag hard.

It still wasn't enough.

"Pathetic! Useless! Can't do one fucking job right!"

Darrach continued to allow his guilt to consume him, making him even angrier. He hit the bag faster and harder each time, eventually to the point where the bag split open and grain poured from the broken bag like a waterfall. The soft hissing of the grain spilling from it gave Darrach no comfort from his woe.

"Three daughters and you can't keep a single one of them safe!"

He went around the room, breaking and hitting things with the bat. He shouted and raged, tears falling from his eyes. Darrach never felt anger like this before and it was almost too much to bear. Wood splintered and cracked when he threw the bat and it hit the wall, pieces flying everywhere. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily as he bent over, cursing himself again and again for the failure that he was.

"Darrach?" a voice called out. Darrach turned around to see Vu standing at the platform door with a very concerned expression on his face and a tray of food in his hands. "You alright?"

Darrach sniffed and wiped his nose before standing up. "Yes, I'm alright," he mumbled, facing him with a sad grin as he wiped his face. "You brought food?"

"Thought you might be hungry," he said before looking around the place with a smirk. "Now I know where Lilly get her lack of cleanliness from," he giggled.

Darrach's cheeks turned red and he ahemed before looking around. "No, this is...this is new," he said.

Tree roots came down from the ceiling and started cleaning up the mess. Vu set the tray of tea and food down on the floor and sat down in front of it. "Eat. You been here long time."

Darrach nodded before grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat off himself. He tossed it aside before sitting across from Vu, both of them preparing their drinks. "Has anything important happened?" Darrach inquired, grateful that Vu wasn't bringing up his little freakout.

Vu shook his head. "No. Queen still in healing bath. They're gonna call banners, rescue Aynaet's kids from prison and come up with plan to defeat Mallacht and his army."

Darrach sighed as he cut into some chocolate potato cake. "He has an army. Great," he mumbled.

"Aynaet has army, too, but now she have advantage."

"Hmm," Darrach muttered as he took the slice and bit into it. "Right."

"What bothering you, boy?" Vu asked bluntly.

Darrach sighed as he chewed. "I'm not at liberty to discuss it."

Vu smacked Darrach's arm lightly with a scrunched up face. "C'mon, man. Not good to hold things in."

"It's not my secret to tell, Vu," Darrach answered with a shake of his head. "But...it's bad. Mallacht has...abused the queen greatly."

"Darrach, I'm your friend. You can talk to me, I won't say word to the others. This isn't something you shoulder alone."

Darrach had come to know Vu as a very wise sage. One of the oldest humans living, Vu had seen much of the world and its practices of various magic. He'd seen loved ones age and die around him while he still stayed young, and yet the man always had a cheerful disposition. Darrach strived to be more like Vu, but even he, someone who wasn't even human at all, found it to be difficult at times.

Like now.

Darrach lowered his head. "All I can tell you is I'm surprised Queen Aynaet hasn't completely lost her mind and burned the entire place down," he said casually before finishing off his tea. "Which children are imprisoned?"

Vu pulled out a small journal from his satchel and flipped through some pages. "Cedar, Burgundy, Viridian, Sapphire, Steel, Aureolin, Saffron, Ruby, Penny, Fawn, Alabaster, Carmine, Moss, Hunter, Glade, Laguna, and Jay. Aynaet has others loyal to her but they're either publicly sworn to Mallacht or they're hiding. Coral is hiding, Cyan, Valentine and Crimson have the queen's back."

"Mmm, so that makes twenty one warriors at her disposal. Which children are on Mallacht's side?"

Vu turned to another page. "Azure, Cobalt, Fuschia, Strawberry, Canary, Amber, Emerald, Hazel, Merigold, Clay, Tumbleweed, Amethyst, Hibiscus, Wine, Flamingo, Umber, Mahogany, Flint, Onyx, Jet, Obsidian, Juniper, India, Persian, Daffodil, Ecru, Honey, Lotus, Pastel, and Admiral."

Darrach counted on his fingers. "Thirty one. Well, we're not that outnumbered..."

Vu cleared his throat. "Mallacht has monsters under his control. A lot, but Lilly made vaults and has monsters of her own. Some wildlife under her control, too. Also, people down there who are...what Rose said are "computer programs"...she said we can enlist them to the fight, but they will need more weapons."

Darrach nodded. "Alright, well..." he clicked in communication bead. "Junior and Aoífe," he said before looking at Vu. "I can get the kids to help make things that they might need."

Aoífe and Junior's faces appeared in the blue oval bubble above his wrist. "What's going on, Darrach?" Junior asked cheerfully.

"I have a mission for you both," Darrach said with a smile. "We're gonna make a lot of blessed weapons."

"Fer what?" Aoífe asked.

"Your Mommy and Daddy are going to war."

The twins looked at each other with evil smiles before glancing back at the tree man. "Go on," the kids both said sweetly.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Once the magic skin suit had been washed and dried, Babd and Rose helped the queen back into it...after making a few adjustments to it. So when Aynaet came walking out of the bathing room, Arthur and the others voiced their surprise to see that she wasn't as terrifying as before.

"Uh..." Lugh began with a tilted head and a smirk. "Is it just me, or was there a...fear enchantment on the suit?"

"There still is," Babd replied. "Rose decreased its power."

"Oh," Lugh answered, walking up to the queen. "Ya look...less scary, Yer Majesty."

Aynaet grinned a little before clutching her throat. "...Thank...you," she mumbled in her deep, easy voice.

"Did she fix up yer voice, too?"

"A...little," Aynaet replied, wincing. "Still...hurts."

Scotty the drone flew up to her, albeit clumsily. "Queen Aynaet, my name is Cernunnos. Darrach is taking a break, but he informed me of your...condition."

Aynaet's eyes widened. "My...condition?"

"Yes. Your throat. I'd like to help."

The queen took a deep breath with a nod. "Thank...you...what...would...you..."

"Try not to strain your voice, Your Majesty. I'm about to send something through that might make it less painful for you to speak."

Aynaet arched a brow as Scotty's camera started flashing blue and beeping. Rose came over with a chuckle. "What a curious little thing," she cooed. "Did Darrach make this?"

"Yes, but Junior designed it and Aoífe...came up with the idea," replied Cernunnos.

Rose smiled with pride. "Those two...how are they?"

"They're alright...they just miss their mothers."

The acorn dinged and a small square appeared in the shell above the lens, then it popped out like a drawer, holding a vial full of white liquid that had little green pieces floating in it. "Wow!" Rose laughed before pulling the vial out. "Hmm...did ya put sea kelp in this?"

"Yes," Cernunnos replied. "And slippery elm bark extract."

"Ah, yeah, we dunna have much access tah proper healin' herbs and plants," Rose commented as she handed the vial to Aynaet. "Got plenty of explosive ones, though. Drink it, Aynaet."

The queen drank the vial and paused for a moment before swallowing it. "Uh...explosive herbs and plants?" Cernunnos asked curiously.

"Yeah. Dragon leaf, chlorine trifluoride bomb, black sumac, Devil's dung...ya wouldna believe the kind of stuff that grows here!"

"Darrach's been using Scotty to collect samples, and some of the flora he's collected? They're extremely potent."

Rose nodded. "Oh yeah. Just uh...if he happened tah collect somethin' that is brown, white and fuzzy...dunna put it anywhere near water and dunna give it food after midnight."

"Uh...he did collect a few of those, actually. What kind of flower are they?"

"They're called Mogwai flowers. And...uh...they ain't really flowers."

"...What are they?"

"Animals. They're harmless...fer the most part," Rose said, clearing her throat before looking at Aynaet. "How's yer voice?" she asked.

The queen nodded with a sigh. "Loads better, thank you," she replied, her voice still deep but not as raspy.

"Well, ya sound...semi decent."

"So what's next?" Sir Jack asked, eating another sandwich while he was sitting at the table with O'Callaghan and Arthur.

"Get the word out tah the people I atethat the door is open and call the banners," Rose replied.

"And announce our arrival?" Lugh asked.

"Yeah. Callin' the banners will do just that. C'mon, let's go," Rose waved as she went walking towards a set of stairs.

Everyone else began to trail after. "Where we goin'?" Arthur asked.

"To the armillary sphere," Babd answered as she went up the stairs.

"What's an armillary sphere?"

"Just a machine used fer gauging long distances, but this sphere is, uh, different," Rose peeped.

They got to the second floor and it appeared to be a simple bedroom with a twin sized cot, a plushy Lazy Boy recliner, a bag of knitting supplies and a nightstand. The cot had a quilt and pillow on it. Otherwise, the rest of the room was pretty plain.

"Sure looks a lot different in here than on the first floor," Arthur remarked casually.

Babd chuckled as they continued up the stairs. "I find if I have too many distracting things in my bedroom, I will never fall asleep," she said.

"Fair enough. Gods know I get distracted when I have," he pulled both Rose and O'Callaghan to his chest, "too many pretty things in my bedroom."

The women giggled but Aynaet frowned and looked at the steps as she walked behind everyone. She should be up there with her husband, soaking in all his love and affection. Unfortunately, Aynaet didn't currently have that option. She hoped she would sooner rather than later because seeing her counter parts and Arthur together, when she herself hadn't even seen the man for five hundred years, was extremely hard to watch.

"He's right feckin' there," she thought, gazing at Arthur's back. "But I might as well be hundreds of miles away from him. I fuckin' hate myself fer keepin' this from him. I'm a patheticwelp that...dammit, stop!"

Aynaet paused to take a deep breath before walking again. This was going to cause some serious problems if she didn't remember to keep her dramatic self loathing in check, but it was a harder to do when Morgan was nearby.

Which was understandable, of course, since the wolf carried the one thing that Aynaet would never let Mallacht have.

They got to the third floor and Aynaet heard people gasp at the sight. The ceiling was curved and high with sliced, gold panels. In the middle was a rather large, black and gold colored telescope. Aynaet had it made for Babd as a gift, and Babd was very much into the steampunk theme. It had several different sized scopes on it and sat upon a black metal platform that had gold gears decorated on the platform's steps. Lugh whistled in appreciation.

"Wow," he chuckled. "This is stylish," he said, looking at a large white platform that was just outside the windows, a white console protruding from the platform. "What's that?"

"That's where we call the banners, but first," Babd pointed at another object in the room. "We evacuate Rose's victims."

At a different end of the room stood the armillary sphere, also painted in gold and black. In the middle space, surrounded by the many metal rings that encircled the sphere, were stone tablets with faded writing on them. Aynaet knew what the words required to be activated for the evacuation frequency.

Her blood.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Really? Me victims? That's a little unfair."

Arthur chuckled with a shake of his head. "No it ain't. You ate people and they got stuck in here."

The dark haired woman narrowed her eyes at Arthur playfully. "I'll fuck the sass outtah yas if ya dunna stop," she smirked.

Jack rubbed his red face and turned away. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph," he grumbled while Lugh laughed loudly.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Arthur asked, grabbing hold of his gun belt as he grinned mischievously at Rose.

"Depends. The sassier ya get, the harder it's gonna be on ya later."

"Fucking kill me please," Jack groaned as Lugh laughed even harder.

Arthur strolled over to Rose slowly, yanking her into his arms and making her yelp as he kissed her feverishly. "I look forward to it," he drawled deeply.

Aynaet closed her eyes and huffed. She needed to hurry this up. "While I can appreciate the reunion you both are having, we have work to do," she said before curtly turning then walking towards the armillary sphere.

Arthur chortled lightly. "Don't get pissy 'cause you're jealous, Your Majesty," he said.

Aynaet's eye twitched when she got to the front of the sphere. "I'm not jealous. You three can go rut all you want after this. It'll be a while before people show up and I'll be doing most of the work anyway..." she said, then she mumbled, "...as usual..." under her breath.

"What work? Gettin' kidnapped?" he teased.

Aynaet's eye twitched again. "If he wasna me husband, I'd beat the ever livin' pissa outta him," she thought to herself.

The queen shrugged while opening up a little panel on one of the outer rings, a bunch of tiny buttons flashing as she pulled out a small tool kit from her skin suit. Aynaet hated the thing but it was so damn practical for hiding and carrying her stuff. She didn't usually perform the practice with prying eyes watching, but Aynaet was in good company now. They weren't going to shy away from her for doing weird shit.

She hoped.

"I need to rescue my children from Sisika Penitentiary. Once word gets out that you're here and I'm declaring war, as well as alerting Rose's vic-ahem, I mean the people who are not from here, that the door is open and they are free to leave, I need to prepare an attack." As Aynaet poked around at the motherboard with one of her tools, she continued. "We also need to free the ones that Mallacht made me torture. Um...just out of curiosity...which ones were your people?"

"Brian, James, Hosea, Sean, Lenny and Tilly. How could you not know which ones?" Arthur exasperated.

"Mallacht made me torture a lot of different people," Aynaet replied casually. The only ones she could think of were the ones Mallacht made her put in his Garden of Names. Still, she wanted to make sure. "He told me they were merely shades, and I really hope that's the case for the ones he didn't...find some sort of use for once he decided I was...finished with them," Aynaet said, growling the last three words bitterly.

"...I see..."

Aynaet paused before turning to look over her shoulder at Arthur. He was looking at her with an expression of genuine sympathy, his worry lines creasing. She could see he hadn't really changed physically, but his eyes really showed just how exhausted he was. It pained her to see him like that.

Which is why Aynaet had to withhold the truth...for now. Once she came clean, Arthur would need some time to gather his thoughts and sort out his emotions. Aynaet understood that perfectly. And when Arthur would finally see what's been done to her, he'd once again need time to process the knowledge. She was willing to put in the effort to regain his love and trust. He'd already done it for her, so Aynaet owed him.

Even if Arthur decided to divorce her, though...Aynaet was going to make damn sure she could fuck him one more time before he kicked her ass to the curb.

Just thinking about Arthur's cock and his body underneath her was making her wet. "Fuck, I miss him," she thought miserably. "I want him balls deep inside me. What I wouldn't give to have him fuck me into a coma!"

"Uh...are you okay?" Arthur asked the queen with a nervous chuckle.

"Yes. Why?" Aynaet chirped, looking a little unsettled.

"You look like you just had a stroke," he replied.

Aynaet quickly relaxed her facial expressions. Sometimes she had a hard time feeling her face in the damn skin suit. She cleared her throat and turned around, going back to what she was doing. "I haven't had a stroke, Mr. Morgan."

"What are you doin'?" Arthur asked as he approached.

Aynaet did her best not to falter in her work when he stood at her side. "Adding a few minor adjustments to the sphere."

"Hmm," he said, moving closer to look at the motherboard. "Is this a computer?"

"Of sorts." Aynaet was a bit surprised that Arthur knew what it was. "How'd you know that?"

"Darrach and my son Junior been teachin' me about them, among other things. It's...pretty complicated but I think I'm gettin' the hang of it."

Aynaet smirked a little. "Well, you're an intelligent man, Arthur. I'm sure you'll learn quick enough."

"And how would you know if I'm intelligent?" Arthur asked, sounding a little mad.

Aynaet put her tool kit away and closed the door panel. She had to think of something quick. "...Because you're an extraordinary person to study."

"I am?" he chuckled. "Is that what the, uh, sex doll was for? To study me?"

"Yes," she replied, looking at him. "I...suppose I wanted to know what it was like to be loved by someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Arthur asked in confusion.

"Yes. Lilly always spoke very highly of you."

"What did she say?"

Aynaet huffed. This was starting to get difficult. "She said..." the queen paused, trying to find the right words. She'd never been good at expressing her affections, especially ones that ran so deep, she felt like she would drown. Aynaet wasn't a poet or a song writer. Still, she had to try. "She said that living without you isn't living at all, it's only survival. It's like she has to...remind herself to breathe because without you, she forgets. She also said...heh, that she thinks you're the stronger magician because you clearly cast a spell on her the moment you two met. And..." tears began to well in Aynaet's eyes. "Without you, her heart does not beat and...sh-she..."

A droplet of her pain fell from her eye and she quickly wiped it away. It wasn't going to do him any good to see her cry, especially since he looked uncomfortable. "Anyway, I just thought...that was a beautiful thing...and..." Aynaet was about to start fiddling with her fingers but she stopped herself while looking down at her feet. "...just thought I'd try to recreate it."

"Did it work?"

"...Not really," Aynaet said, her lip trembling. "I...would you excuse me for a few minutes?" she blurted out before rushing past him and the others to the stairs.

"Aynaet..." Rose began to say but she didn't get to finish when Aynaet ran down the stairs to get away from everyone.

She didn't want them to see her like this.