IRISH HEART

"And, so Mairi ran for the castle."

Robin eased awake, surveying the room around her. Amon lay peacefully in the bed, just watching as Nycole spoke to him in hushed whispers, her voice only barely audible from where the Craft user sat.

She had been so worried about Amon for so long. The man had been beaten so utterly badly, almost to death, it seemed. On the long trip from Italy to Dublin, they almost lost him at least twice. Once, during the flight by foot from the burning out Vatican, Amon's breathing stopped. It had taken careful CPR, tender and as gentle as could be, to bring him back. The second time happened on the long drive through France. His heart actually stopped that time, growing horribly still and silent within his chest. It took the combined efforts of Geoff and Raven, pouring their energy into Amon, and Nycole to guide it, to bring the former hunter back from his arrest. And, yet, the entire trip to Ireland, to Dublin, Robin watched with concern and fear that she would lose him at any moment.

And, yet, somehow, Amon seemed to suffer on, hanging on to life with everything he had. Even then, Robin could see the agony behind his gray, weathered eyes. The former hunter seemed so pale, so weak, unlike the teenager had ever seen Amon before. This faded, feverish and fragile seeming Amon was the pure antithesis of all Robin knew to be of him.

Nycole, oddly enough, spoke to him so tenderly, as if reading to a child. And Amon seemed to be enjoying her tale, if the man ever enjoyed anything fully.

"Go on."

Nycole shook her head. "No. You need some rest. I'll go get something for your to eat."

Amon didn't really answer. He just settled back, letting his eyelids slip shut, lulling in and out of slumber. The man looked so calm and peaceful. Robin didn't have the heart to wake him. Instead, the teenager just climbed out of the chair slowly, unfolding herself and tiptoeing out of the room.

She never saw Amon crack open an eye to watch her warmly as she left.

He slipped back to sleep, thinking of the empath's tale.

It seemed so real… so very close…

xxxx

There!

Dun Aengus. Mairi's heart leapt at the sight of those old stone walls, reaching up at the highest point of Inish Mor, the very largest of the Aran Islands. It stood, perched as it always had been, high stop the sheer cliffs of the island. Its outermost wall came alive with action as her arches scrambled about, taking their aim.

"No…"

Mairi gaped as a volley of arrows were let loose from the walls of the fortress, shooting up from the height of those grey, ancient stones, soaring into the air. It was a dark cloud, a flock of sharp, pointing things, screaming as they flew. A singular arrow, actually whistled as it flew ahead of the others, a signal bolt. The arrows flew up, slowing at the top of their arch, before turning earthward, coming down swiftly. A rain of arrows came down just behind Mairi and the bolting dun.

But it did not stop the Praetori. They were vengeful mercenaries who would stop at nothing until they had their mark, dead or alive. They were loyal to their employer until the death or payment and completion of their mission. Mairi had to both admire and hate them at the same time.

"Damn it!"

Mairi threw her weight to the right, hauling the dun hard by the bit to avoid a stray arrow as it landed no more than a few feet away. The girl glanced over her shoulder as she righted the horse and continued on her way. Perhaps thirty of the Praetori had fallen, but only maybe ten or eleven were actually dead. The others, another twenty or thirty, kept right on her tail.

It didn't matter; Mairi was too close to Dun Aengus.

An arrow shot through her leg. The girl let out a scream of pure agony, slumping over the shoulders of the dun for a moment. Her hand shot out, pushing against the horse's rising and falling withers, forcing herself up.

Dun Aengus was so very close.

The massive gates swung open, receiving her. Mairi let the dun do the rest, galloping on, right through the gates, down a wide, long tunnel under the outermost wall and into city of Dun Aegnus. Warriors of the Iceni rushed to her side, while others slammer the inner and outer gates to the tunnel shut, bolting them from the inside with massive tree timbers. Mairi let herself fall from the dun's back and into the waiting arms of one of the warriors.

"I need to see HER," the injured girl growled.

No one would dare argue.

xxxx

His head swam.

"Mairi…"

Merric hated that feeling. Sometimes, ok, more than a few times, he had moments when the world seemed to fade away and everything grew blurry and bleary. His mind would traipse away from the real world, it felt, and vanish from existence all together.

"What have I done this time?"

Where was he?

Merric glanced around. He seemed to be kneeling on his feet, in the middle of the moors somewhere, out in the green grasses of the Iceni. Where exactly? Who could tell. The moors all looked the same, verdant and lush. It was difficult to tell precisely which one when he was coherent. Incoherent, it was almost impossible to even get a decent idea of where he was. Merric struggled to remember.

Something stung at his arm. Merric let out a hiss from the searing pain of a deep gash on his left forearm. The Iceni wondered how in the devil he'd gotten that wound, but ignored the confusion for more important matters.

He gave a better look, rubbing the cloudiness from his vision as Merric caught sight of the warriors and horses, sprawled out, dead, upon the ground. Not a creature moved. Not even birds. In fact, now that Merric looked, a few birds had fallen among the men and their steeds. Merric saw the banner of the Praetori, with its curling Triskellian.

"What did I do…?" the young man stiffened at the sight of such death. "Oh, Gods…." The Iceni climbed to his feet. "Mairi…."

The man started to hunt for her, for his lost sister, but there was nothing. There was but miles of stillness. His sister was nowhere to be seen, lost perhaps to the very death that swallowed up those Praetori bastards. His heart skipped a beat, wondering if, perhaps, this time, he had finally accidentally ended Mairi's life by his own, dark curse.

Even now, a single, black feather fell upon the ground before him.

xxxx

Brett studied the map carefully.

They didn't exactly have a specific location. Nor did they really have coordinates. Instead, Brett had a string of what seemed like nonsensical codewords and puzzles. Solomon had been exceptionally careful with hiding Kathain, keeping the location a secret, even from their own men and women.

He sighed heavily. "It's hopeless."

It was hopeless. The world seemed so very large, and Brett suddenly felt so very small and lost. Kathain was out there, somewhere, Solomon's prisoner. The fire elemental couldn't even imagine what was happening to her at that moment. All he could do was continue to thumb through the papers they printed out from the Vatican office and try to make some sense of it. The papers were plasters with miles and miles of binary. It would take ages to decode that, and even longer to sort of the encryption. Brett shook his head running his fingers though his ebony hair.

"I don't know what to do anymore."

Kathain was lost, lost to them.

xxxx

One of the burlier men took up Mairi, not letting her place a bit of weight on her injured leg. He scooped the girl up in his muscular arms and whisked her away, deep into the center of the compound, the fortress that was Dun Aengus. She kept her eyes ahead, watching as they ran deeper and deeper into the center of city. They passed through a second set of massive gates in a second wall. At the next and last wall, the guards nodded, waving Mairi through and into the center of the fortress.

The center most part of those three, concentric circles was actually very small. It consisted of a small, wooden lodge, and some green land, precariously settled at the top of the massive cliff. In the center, grew a tall oak, surrounded by thistle and a few, yellow wildflowers that Mairi didn't know the name to.

And, there, at the edge of the cliff, stood the other.

She turned to face Mairi. Her face was rounded, with a pert, pointed nose. Long, red hair, running down her back and almost to her bum, flowed with various braids. Marks of her own kills in battle. This woman was scarred by life, wrapped in tartan with fur slung over her shoulder. A spear rested gently in her arms.

"Mairi, it has been too long," the woman greeted. "Where is your brother, Merric?"

"Boudica, I need your help."

xxxx

How far?

Merric didn't know. All he could do was follow the tracks of hoof prints, stumbling across the moors, and find out where exactly they led. The young Iceni had yet to find his sister, anywhere among the dead. Merric had to pray, to hope against hope that, if he followed those tracks he would find Mairi. Merric continued on, staggering over the fields and lush grasses.

Those terrible, evil things coming from his back, those wings, they brushed against the grass. Somehow, they tickled him against the flowers and blades of grass. Merric hated them and loathed those ebony wings, the marks of his curse. Merric folded his arms tight across his chest. Instinctively, the wings curled closer around his body.

"Mairi… please be safe."

xxxx

"DRIVE THEM BACK!"

It was amazing to see Boudica in action again, her armor gleaming in the light, flashing silver and steel. Mairi felt safe again at the queen's side, fighting alongside her. The pair stood along the outermost wall, fighting with Boudica's own men, firing off arrow after arrow at the Praetori. The horsemen swirled around the fortress for an hour or two, circling but eventually retreating under the hail of arrows from the Iceni.

A cheer went up in Dun Aengus when the Praetori turned away.

Then, there was nothingness. Just the vast emptiness of the moors out, around the fortress. Boudica stood there, her emerald eyes gazing out over the rolling hills with Mairi and the evening patrol as dusk settled.

"Where is he?" Mairi worried, fretfully.

Boudica frowned. "The more important question is what are you doing out here?"

The girl stopped. "They said you needed me. They said you were calling your favor back." The elder woman furrowed her eyebrows, obviously confused at what the girl tried to tell her. "They said you asked for me specifically by name."

"I did no such thing," the queen replied.

Mairi blinked. "Where is Merric?"

xxxx

I promise, I will explain everything later.