"MERRIC!"
Her voice screamed to him, sharply, shrilly. Mairi. She was leaping away from him, whirling around, arrows drawn. The girl let loose as she fell away, into the dark. Amon jumped, reaching for her, but Mairi's shots slammed into his chest, his shoulder, and side.
"MAIRI!"
xxxx
Amon jumped awake in a cold sweat.
He tried to shake off the nightmare, the terrible visage of Mairi, the maiden of Nycole's tale. The young Celtic girl looked so angry, so bitter, so hurt and tormented as she shot off arrows at him. Amon could almost feel the metal heads still stabbing at his flesh, despite their illusory nature. The man reached for the wounds, finding only the bindings of his previous injuries.
Amon glanced around the dark room, finding no one. Not even Nycole or Robin. He was utterly alone in that bedroom in the old flat.
For once, he didn't want to be alone. For once in Amon's life, he wanted this all to be but a dark dream, a nightmare of epic proportions. The former hunter just wanted to wake up, back in Kristo's house, with Kathain slumbering at his side, lying among the others of that rag tag band. Amon wondered what had become of him that he now craved the company of the others.
Perhaps it was Brett's stern words in the pub.
It was true, and Amon had to admit it. He was one the Thirteen, just as lost as the Brett, Geoff, Bear, Raven, and Kristo. And, yet, instinct dictated that they needed to find one another and stay together. It was like long lost family finding each other after years apart. The long wolf had come home to his pack.
And, yet, this was a pack broken.
They seemed lost and despondent. This pack was missing one its greatest wolves. Kathain. And, they were still halved. There were seven warriors still lost, wandering the world with no sense of who they were. This pack had yet to see a single day when they were all together, the complete family they were supposed to be.
Amon stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room. There, he found the others. The man paused to give a slight smirk at the group as they lay, almost piled upon one another, sleeping peacefully in the night. Amon had been walking this world for so long by himself, all alone. The former hunter couldn't imagine belonging to anything, especially not a family after everything that had happened with his mother. And yet, this family seemed to be drawing him in, digging their claws into his flesh and keeping Amon from just up and leaving.
If had he wanted to, Amon couldn't. This had become matters of a higher calling. No longer could this lone wolf pretend, for however much the man wished he could go back to a simple life of solitude. The Powers That Be refused to allow Amon to just live out his life the way he wanted to.
The man looked over all those who were sprawled across the room, locked in slumber.
Amon had so many questions, so much he needed to know, but the man couldn't bear to wake them. Instead, he tiptoed through the sea of people crammed in the tiny living room, pausing only as he passed Robin and Nycole. They shared the pull out bed, lying before a television, still on and glowing in the dark. Amon turned off the television and pulled the blanket up a bit on the pair.
Then, Amon stole out, into the night.
The calm, brisk air felt so refreshing after the warm stuffiness of the flat. Perhaps it was all the people crammed into such a small space. Amon had never known such closeness and such nearness to so many people. It felt good to get out, into the fresh air.
A voice stopped him as Amon strolled out of the small yard before the flat. "Y'know it's not safe to go wandering alone."
"I know."
Kristo slipped from the shadows and into the real world, katana in hand. "You should go back upstairs."
"No."
The ex-army sniper turned shadow walker snickered at the defiance. "And what do you plan to do, then? Wander the streets of Dublin like an idiot?"
Amon shook his head. "I need to clear my mind."
"No." Kristo purred the word, really. "You're going out to try to find answers."
The former hunter had to conceded and admit the truth. "Yes."
"Then, go find them and hurry back."
xxxx
Together, they searched.
The Thirteen turned Dun Aengus upside down. And, yet, there was nothing. No trace of the traitor who had turned in Merric and Mairi's location to the Praetori. Boudica had been hoping that the wings and imposing, almost godlike visages of the Thirteen would spook the foe, flush him or her out and into the open. And, yet, not even the seers among the Warriors could find any sign or trace of deception among the Iceni. They were all innocent.
"I cannot believe this! I simply cannot!" Boudica screamed.
But she never noticed the form skulking out, onto the moor, leaving Dun Aengus for the camps of the Praetori, just ten or twenty miles away.
The Iceni would fall, crushed under the foreigners.
xxxx
Amon wandered the streets of Dublin in a daze.
This world, it felt so familiar, so close. He had never been in Ireland for very long at one time, and his trips were but few. And, still, every time Amon had traversed the streets of Dublin, they seemed so welcoming and calming. Or, was that just his current perspective based off of the dreams, sparked by Nycole's tale?
Amon couldn't tell anymore.
The lines between reality and illusion were fading. And Amon? He was becoming an entirely different person. The man hardly recognized himself after all this time. Amon was a butterfly. A creature transformed and reborn. Amon felt like the phoenix its self, only he had not laid down willingly to the fire and flames to be born anew.
He kept walking.
xxxx
"Mairi…."
Someone was shaking her shoulder. She cracked open bleary eyes, unhappy to be awoken after only a few hours of sleep and rest. Mairi rubbed her eyes, trying to scour away the last remnants of slumber. When the girl's vision cleared, she found herself staring up and into the face of Merric, her brother. He looked worried.
"Merric..?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "What is the meaning of this?"
The young Iceni man reached down for his sister's hand. "Mairi, we need to leave, now."
"But, Merric…?"
Her brother grew set and resolved. "Do not question me. We don't have time for this, sister. We just need to be getting out of here, as soon as possible."
"The Thirteen only just got here. You cannot just abandon them!" Mairi tried to argue.
Merric shook his head. "The Praetori are coming."
"What?"
xxxx
Amon trembled.
The man could no longer trust his feelings as he walked down the long alleys of Dublin. He felt such odd things, so terribly connected to the tale of Mairi and Merric. He hated that feeling, that unsure sentiment. The man stumbled about the streets, heading towards what? Even Amon didn't know.
All the man knew was there were things within him that were not at peace.
Xxxx
Horns sounded.
Boudica leapt, scrambling up the steps to the top of the outer wall. Drums beat, rumbling in the old, cold stone of Dun Aengus. She heard the warnings, racing up and holding her breath as the woman glanced over the moor, towards the hills. The queen hoped, for one moment, that there would be nothing but the faint glow of moonlight on the grassy expanse.
No, nothing could be that simple, that easy. Not for the Iceni.
The Praetori had returned. Boudica gasped as she saw the glow over the tops of the hills, warm and orange. Flames licked beyond the moors. The Thirteen raced up to the side of the their queen. Mairi dragged Merric behind her, hauling her reluctant brother up to the top of the wall, her ancient bow in hand.
"Praetori…" Boudica whispered the vile name. "ARCHERS TO THE READY!"
They came to the top of the hill.
Only, this time, they weren't alone. An army of thousands rode up with them. This was the foreign invaders, called by their gods the "Row-Manns." The strange Romans rode alongside the savage traitors that were the Praetori. In truth, these were the very people the Praetori emulated, trying so desperately to be like the emperor's supreme guard. And, now, they were at least five to ten thousands strong. Boudica couldn't tell in the dark. And they had brought weapons and beasts from far off lands.
The Iceni were doomed.
Mairi readied a break of three arrows, looking to Boudica. "Certainly brought reinforcements this time around."
"Aye." Boudica merely nodded.
Merric turned away in disgust. "They are going to slaughter us like pigs. We need to just surrender, Boudica."
"I REFUSE!" The queen shouted harshly. "I will not allow the Iceni, Dun Aengus, all this to fall. My husband did not, and nor shall I. Dun Aengus will stand tall and proud forever."
One of the Thirteen looked to his queen. "We will not fail you."
"No," Boudica growled. "You will not fail the Iceni."
xxxx
Mmm… battle.
