A/N: I could give you excuses about how I'm busy, but then I'd be lying. But expect chapter four to take about as long as this one did (maybe longer my muse is being vicious with all the new story ideas).

Chapter 3

No Harm Intended

The Palace grounds passed by in a blur and Sarah only barely heard Medb's promise to give her a tour later. They soon entered a tunnel that steadily grew darker the further down they went. A strange sensation passed through her as they left the tunnel, like there was something thin and malleable trying to cling to her, but it passed once they entered the city. With wide eyes Sarah got her first look at R'lyeh Ulaid.

It was dank and murky, the only light provided seemed to come from the occasional gas lamp that were on either side of the avenue. A man and woman walked past and Sarah gaped as she realized the only bit of clothing they wore were sealskin cloaks. Her eyes began to dart around trying to take in as much as possible. Stalls lined the left side of the avenue, their owners hawking the wares inside. The other side was full of inns and taverns, and her eyes widened in shock as she realized that the inn with men and women lounging in front of it was actually a brothel.

An insistent tugging on her hand reminded her that Medb was trying to give her a tour. She trotted along after the girl letting Medb guide her as she looked around. Over there was a man with seaweed for hair arguing with a fat, ugly mermaid in a tub of water. Three naked women walked past, their long black hair floating on an unfelt breeze. The flow of people grew steadily thicker as they neared the end of the avenue; Sarah clutched Medb's hand tighter afraid they'd get separated. But she stopped dead in her tracks as she stared at the strange pair chatting at one of the stalls.

The man and woman both wore the strange waking machine she'd seen a few of the other mer-people wearing and both even wore the tattered remnants of clothing. But the disturbing thing was that both of them were missing their torsos from the tenth rib to the top of the pelvis bone. Medb finally stopped tugging at her hand.

"What, you've never seen a bonefish before?" Sarah shook her head vigorously as she turned to Medb.

"Bonefish?" Medb nodded. "Yep. They're born that way you know." "How do they eat?" Just imagining one of those things trying to eat food made Sarah shudder. "What makes you think they eat food?" Sarah crossed her arms and glared at the girl, certain that she was playing with her, "Well what DO they eat then?" Medb began laughing, "They eat magic!" Medb reached out for her arm again but only managed to grab the sleeve the nightgown Sarah belatedly realized she was still wearing.

"Come on! I'll show you the stables." Sarah had to run after her just to keep up and prevent her nightgown from ripping. She wanted to ask what Medb meant by eating magic, that was impossibly right?, but they were rushing through what was most likely the main square and down another avenue so fast that Sarah had to concentrate on breathing. When they finally did stop Sarah leaned against a wall, exhausted and breathing heavily.

Glancing up she saw Medb rocking back and forth on her heels, clearly impatient. "You're sooooo slow!" she whined, Sarah just glared in response. When she felt that she could walk again without falling over she pushed herself away from the wall, "OK, I think I can breathe again." Medb muttered something that sounded like 'about time' before walking towards the entrance to another tunnel. The tunnel was flanked by two statues carved out of a greenish-white stone. The one on the left was a fierce looking woman in a very restricting looking dress and a sword strapped to her side. The man on the left looked like a sailor (actually he looked a lot like Popeye, except the statue didn't have a jutting chin or funny looking muscles, so he was probably more like the Cracker Jack kid).

Sarah followed Medb as they began to enter the tunnel but suddenly the tunnel became opaque and a strange force pushed back and sent her stumbling. Looking to Medb for an explanation she saw that the girl was currently glaring at the sailor statue.

"I was going to show Sarah-lady the stables!" Medb told it. Sarah was about to tell her that talking to statues wasn't going to do her any good but to Sarah's amazement (but after all she'd seen she was really more amazed that she was still amazed) the statue turned it's head and it's neck elongated and moved until the head was at eye level with Medb.

"The king wishes for you and the human to return to Gower my lady." The statue's voice was monotone, but somehow still seemed to hold a hint of an accent (if that was even possible). Medb pouted and crossed her arms in defiance.

"Princess" Sarah jumped at the new voice behind her. "Either you return to Gower or well shall escort you to Gower." The voice, while the same strange monotone as the man's, was clearly that of a woman and Sarah turned slightly to see the woman statue's head floating a few feet away (and she suddenly wondered if she was going mad). Medb was still pouting when she turned to Sarah, rolled her eyes, and began walking back the way they'd come. A few steps later Sarah had caught up to the girl.

"What where those thing?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder she saw that the statues had returned to their original positions. "They're called way guards," Sarah's attention turned back to Medb. "There are two of them at each of the tunnel entrances. They help keep the city safe from the small stuff." Sarah gave a nod of vague understanding (Danu definitely had some explaining to do) before she gave a violent shiver. Medb must have noticed it out of the corner of her eye because she turned, and with that expression of curiosity that Sarah was beginning to dislike (it was as if Medb didn't understand what was happening to her), and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's cold." Was all she managed to get out. The girl's expression quickly turned from curiosity to confusion. "What are you talking about? It's not cold. . ." Medb let her sentence drift off and held her hands out towards Sarah. "Grab my hands." Warily Sarah just looked at Medb's hands and shivered again. Medb gave an exasperated sigh, "I swear Sarah-Lady that at this point in time I intend you no harm." With another shiver Sarah grabbed Medb's outstretched hands. "Now think a warm thought." The first thing that popped into her head was driving through Florida and trying to deal with the oppressive heat in a junker of a car. Suddenly she felt warm again, but she had little time to relish it as she was once again being pulled along by Medb.

The trip back seemed to take less time than the failed trip to the stables and before she knew it Medb had left her in front of her bedroom door and vanished. Sarah stumbled into the room feeling tired and completely drained. She only paused briefly so her eyes could adjust to the darkness of the room before making her way to the bed. Moments later she was fast asleep.

The shadow flinched at the sudden pulse of happiness and warmth. Which meant the light was not dead. It growled in annoyance at it once again searched for the light. But when it recognized where the light was it smiled, two birds with one stone then. . .

Home again, home again, jigity, jig. . .

And that's where I leave you.

Thanks to hazlgrnLizzy the only person to review the last chapter. So she gets a coupon for one month free from goblins stealing her socks and other things.

BTW go check out the March prompt challenge now up at the LJ community OnlyForever. This month it's song lyrics! Hope to hear from you there.