Chapter Ten
AN: Introducing the OCs. In my story "Feeling All the Feels" Dyson mentions knowing a gancanagh. Now you get to meet him. Also, I don't know how much I'll be able to update over the weekend and I know I won't have time on Monday. Depends on how much work takes out of me.
Shocked silence covered the Dal as Bo, Tamsin, and Trick stared at the newcomers, who stared right back. Finally, Kayleigh smacked the blonde man upside the head. "Really? That's how you're going to introduce yourself?"
"Hey, I just participated in my very first epic battle," the man protested to the empath. "I think I'm allowed to be a little quippy. Now," he clapped his hands together, turning back to the others. "Let's see if I've got this right. You're most certainly Tamsin," he nodded to the Valkyrie, "the fine warrior over there must be Trick, the proprietor of this establishment," the man gave him a little bow, "and so you must be Bo," he finished to the succubus. "So where's…?"
Kenzi emerged from the stairwell and skidded to a halt next to Bo. Seeing the corpses of the three creatures, she yelped and stumbled backwards. "Holy shit!"
"Ah – you must be Kenzi," the man bowed. The human looked over at him and blinked.
"Heeelloooooo," she drew out as she gave the blonde a slow once-over.
"Oh God, don't encourage him," Kayleigh groaned.
"And you are?" Bo threatened, stepping forward with her dagger extended.
"Oh! Where are my manners?" The man held a hand to his chest. "I'm Fíonn; the lovely lady to my right is my sister, Aislinn," he gestured, "and you already know Kayleigh."
"Not that I don't appreciate your assistance, but what are you doing here?" Trick asked, though his tone suggested it was more of a demand.
"He's the gancanagh," Tamsin explained as she wiped her sword down with a rag.
"'The gancanagh'?" Fíonn repeated. "Should I be insulted by such dismissiveness?"
"As Evony said, not even remotely charming," Tamsin continued. Kayleigh and Aislinn gave a snort of laughter.
"You break my heart, fair Valkyrie," the gancanagh moaned in mock offense.
"E-nough," Kayleigh cut him off. "I don't suppose you have any idea what those are?" she pointed to the creatures still bleeding out on the floor.
"They look like dobhar-chú," Aislinn murmured, speaking for the first time.
"Of course," Trick groaned, rubbing his forehead. "That explains the water and their webbed feet."
"Someone wanna fill in the human and baby Fae?" Kenzi piped up. Bo elbowed her in the side. "What? You are."
"Dobhar-chú translates to 'water hound,'" Aislinn answered. "They're an ancient type of Under-Fae that are sort of half-otter, half-dog. They usually stay close to whatever body of water they call home, so these must have been sent after you."
Dyson and Hale burst through the broken door of the Dal and Kayleigh and Aislinn stepped aside to let them pass. "You're a little late to the parade," Kenzi noted.
"Again," Bo added with a hint of vitriol.
"Dyson!" Fíonn exclaimed in delight, holding out his arms. The shifter gaped at him in shocked delight.
"Fíonn!" The two men clasped hands and pounded each other's backs in the typical male fashion.
"You two know each other?" Bo asked, thoroughly confused.
"Fíonn and I spent time in Ireland together back in the 1800s," Dyson replied, still grinning at the gancanagh. "Boy loves his pipe."
"Which will not be smoked in here," Trick cut in.
"Are you sure?" Fíonn asked. "It's some of the good stuff."
"Which is precisely why it won't be smoked in here," Trick insisted, though he had a knowing smile on his face.
Fíonn held up his hands in acquiescence. "I completely respect that, sir."
"Um, in case you've all forgotten, there are three dobhar-chú corpses on the floor and we're here to talk about things that are apparently very important," Kayleigh cut in.
Bo pulled out her phone. "I'll call Lauren; she'll want to run tests on these things." As she waited for the doctor to pick up, she noticed that Kenzi, Tamsin, and Dyson were openly staring at her. "What?" she protested to the two women, ignoring the shifter completely. Tamsin's smile was filled with pride, and Bo couldn't help but blush as she smiled shyly in return.
Kenzi, meanwhile, had sauntered over to Dyson for the specific purpose of asking, "How's the doghouse feel, wolf?" before returning to Bo's side. Dyson's nostrils flared with anger, but he didn't retort.
Sensing the tension and deciding to cut through it, Fíonn clapped his hands again. "Right, before we get started, who's off-limits?"
"Everyone," Tamsin growled, taking a protective step closer to Bo. Kenzi and Kayleigh shot each other knowing smirks.
"You weren't kidding," Aislinn whispered to her girlfriend as she observed the dynamic between the Valkyrie and the succubus.
"It's gotten stronger since yesterday," Kayleigh noticed. "At this rate we'll be suffocating in it." Aislinn snorted her amusement and agreement.
"Aw, are you sure?" Fíonn was asking. "The human's so cute!"
Kenzi blushed and giggled, but Hale cleared his throat and took a provocative step towards the gancanagh. Fíonn held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. Didn't know those were your toes I was stepping on."
Tamsin relaxed her stance and looked to see what Bo's reaction had been. The succubus hadn't been paying attention, instead examining the gashes on her shoulder. "Shit!" Tamsin exclaimed as she gently brushed her hands along Bo's arm, cursing herself for not noticing her injury sooner. "Bo, you need to feed."
"Tamsin, I'm fine."
The Valkyrie cupped the succubus's face in her hands. "Please, Bo. I just…you're hurt, ok? Just feed." Bo sighed and pulled her into a kiss.
Tamsin tried not to let herself drown in the sensation of Bo's lips against hers, but the soft warmth of her mouth was almost too much to bear. She felt a tug from deep within her: a tendril of both pain and pleasure snaking its way through her body to leave her in a stream of blue. Bo drew gently from the Valkyrie until the cuts on her arm had healed. With one last brush of her lips, she pulled away, both of them slightly breathless. "Thanks," she mumured.
"Always, Bo."
The succubus smiled her delight at these words, but her smile faded when she saw the marks on Tamsin's arm. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"It's fine, Bo. I heal fast."
Bo gave the Valkyrie a pointed look. "Nice try," she reprimanded before pulling Tamsin into another kiss. After a moment of blissful tenderness, Tamsin felt soothing warmth and gentle pleasure weave its way into her body before pulsing through her veins. Opening her eyes ever-so-slightly, the Valkyrie saw that Bo was pushing chi into her in a river of orange that left her gasping.
"You can't just give back what I gave you," Tamsin protested when they pulled away, still reeling.
Bo gave her a shy, almost nervous smile. "I wanted to."
"That was hot," Fíonn commented. It was Aislinn's turn to smack him.
Ever the generous proprietor, Trick drew a round of pints for everyone as they gathered at the longest table at the Dal. "If I pull you another, will you drink it at a normal speed?" Trick asked Kayleigh when he had finished passing out the first few drinks.
"Sure thing," she replied, handing him the empty glass. Dyson, Hale, and Bo were gaping at her while Aislinn just shook her head fondly.
Once everyone was seated with a beer in front of them, Fíonn began, "Right, what story do you want to hear first?"
"You're not even going to ask why?" Kayleigh groused.
"I leave the snooping and gossiping to you ladies," he replied with a wave at her and his sister. "I prefer to do the storytelling and watch people listen in rapt delight."
"Can you start by filling the newbies in on gancanaghs?" Kenzi asked.
"Of course! Gancanaghs are the finest of the sídhe. We're handsome, charming – "
" – they're a type of Fae who feed off chi the way succubi do, but they can only feed off of women and their charms only work on women," Aislinn cut him off.
"Is that why only one of the dobhar-chú reacted to your smoke?" Bo asked.
"Yes indeed," Fíonn replied, slightly chagrined at his sister for robbing him of his speech. "If they had both been male, the smoke would've done nothing. I was taking a bit of a gamble, there."
"What happens if a gancanagh is gay?" Kenzi inquired with a mischievous smirk.
Fíonn grinned. "Many an amusing story, all of which I can tell you over drinks later." Hale cleared his throat again and the gancanagh held up his hands in defense. "Not flirting! Not flirting!"
"We were hoping," Trick cut in, "that you could tell us more about a piece of sídhe history. In about 1100 or so, the veil between this world and the Otherworld was torn and thousands of sídhe rallied together to fix the breach. We were just wondering if there was anything specific you could tell us about that battle."
Fíonn stared at him incredulously. "'Anything specific'? Good sir, I have almost a hundred stories about that particular debacle, all of which are firsthand accounts from my dear, departed father."
"Firsthand accounts?" Dyson repeated, eyes wide.
"Yup. Dad fought in those battles. The whole thing lasted for a good few months, and he was there for all of it."
"Start talking," Tamsin demanded before adding "please" as an afterthought.
"Happily! Where should I start?"
"The beginning, please," Trick implored. "We need to know as much as we can."
"Sure thing!" Fíonn leaned forward on the table, eyes sparkling as he began his tale.
"So. Back in 1100-ish, people start seeing ghosts in the Irish countryside. Not really an unusual thing, because Ireland, but there were an awful lot more than usual. Then people claimed that dobhar-chú were starting to pop up in the nearby lakes, which nobody believed until two kids nearly got eaten for getting too close. People really started paying attention when a Fae village was attacked. When the villagers defended themselves, the assailants bled white. Sídhe hadn't bled white for a good few centuries at that point, so the obvious conclusion was that they'd gotten through the veil somehow.
"Figuring it would be best to fight sídhe with their own kind, all the sídhe in Ireland gathered together to try to find and close the tear in the veil. Thing is, no one knew how, because nothing like this had ever happened before. So the sídhe back then did what you're doing now: went to people for stories of the good old days. So much Irish Fae history is kept in its people and not in its books; you just have to find who has the knowledge. Anyway, a lot of the really old Fae started mentioning the Four Treasures of the Tuatha. And before you ask, they're not important yet, so hold off on your questions," Fíonn added to Bo, who had indeed opened her mouth to inquire further. "A lot of people thought this was bullshit, because the Four Treasures are supposed to have been a myth. That said, we're supposed to be myths, too, so it was a pretty lame argument, if you ask me.
"So things inevitably start getting worse. More ghosts and ancient sídhe are wreaking havoc left and right, and three spirits in particular are doing extra points of damage. Only the banshees could see them clearly and some of them managed to get close enough to identify them before being attacked. Before they died, they were able to tell the other sídhe that the three spirits were the last three kings of the Tuatha: MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGréine. They had been killed in the last battle with the Milesians that ended with all the Tuatha and ancient sídhe being banished to the Otherworld.
"No one was sure how the spirits got out of the Red Palace, since that's where most of the old sídhe and the Tuatha went when they died. The most popular theory was that a fourth party held a jailbreak 'cause there were a lot of tales of this shady character who'd stand back and watch the brothers slaughter their way through entire villages. No one ever figured out who he was." Kayleigh and Aislinn couldn't help but notice that everyone's tension and worry spiked with this revelation, but they didn't comment. "This meant that not only did the other sídhe have to worry about closing the veil, but they had to send the brother-kings back home, too," Fíonn continued. "The old folk kept insisting that the Four Treasures had a part in the whole thing and someone finally managed to wrangle a little more knowledge out of somebody.
"Whoever they wrangled it out of said that the Four Treasures had been split when the Tuatha had been banished: two in the Otherworld and two in the world of the living. The Treasures already held immense power on their own and apparently keeping them separate from each other caused a sort of pull between them all: two treasures were trying to get out while two were trying to get in. Over time, this started to determine the well-being of the veil. No one knew anything about the two in the Otherworld and only one of them was known in our world: Lia Fáil, The Stone of Destiny, which sat on the hill of Tara. Apparently the Stone was the key to closing the breach in the veil.
"So the battle of battles happened at Tara, three days before Bealtaine. Sídhe of all types fought ancient sídhe of all types in one big mess. Thankfully, they were prepared when the spirits of the three kings showed up and a huge group of banshees keened them back into the Otherworld." Seeing Bo's and Kenzi's confusion, Fíonn elaborated, "Banshees not only predict the death of other Fae but they have the power of keening. It's like a death song that sends spirits back to wherever they came from. The group succeeded in driving the kings back, but the stress of the keening killed a fair few of them. As for closing the veil, the Lia Fáil was indeed the key, but whatever ceremony they performed destroyed the Stone in the process."
"If the Stone was destroyed, what's there now?" Trick asked with a frown.
"A very, very clever copy," Fíonn replied. "It fools the humans and most of the Fae, but any sídhe who looks at it knows immediately that it's not real. So the veil was closed, but the destruction of the Stone left a huge problem: now the power of the veil is unbalanced. There are two Treasures in the Otherworld and only one in ours, so the sídhe figured it would only be a matter of time before the veil tore again."
"Did they ever figure out which Treasures were where?" Kenzi wondered.
"Yeah, they did: Nuada's Sword and Dagda's Cauldron are both in the Otherworld, and Lugh's Spear is hiding somewhere in this world."
At the mention of the Spear, Kayleigh and Aislinn sent Trick a glance of curious challenge. His pleading expression in response kept them silent.
"You said that there was a shady character who watched the three kings," Bo began carefully. "Did he have a name? Or a title? Could he have been one of the Tuatha?"
"He was almost definitely another Tuatha," Fíonn told her. "Only another Tuatha would have the power to break spirits out of the Red Palace. Thing is, not many Tuatha were alive and well outside that Palace. Most were dead by the time of the banishment."
"Did he have a name?"
"A lot of people called him 'The Wanderer' because he was always following the kings."
Bo's heart stopped for a moment, then began to beat double-time. Tamsin grasped her hand under the table to both calm and reassure her.
"And your dad was at these battles?" Hale confirmed.
"He was," Fíonn replied with a proud grin. "Never shut up about it. He actually got a medal for it – all the sídhe did." He pulled a pendant from beneath his t-shirt and held it up for the others to see: a copper disk with an upraised triple-spiral.
"That's the spiral of Brú na Bóinne," Tamsin identified.
"Yup. Well, that's the place the spiral's most associated with. Dad said that all the medals were enchanted to locate the other Treasures, but the sídhe who enchanted them said that 'only one with the proper words' or whatever could activate them. Dad was one of the few people who believed it to be true and used to encourage me and Aislinn to go looking for the Treasures someday."
"Which is why my oh-so-intelligent brother here spent a good few centuries traveling every inch of Ireland," Aislinn added with a sort of affectionate irritation.
"Hey, you wanted to stay home. It's not my fault the mobile phone hadn't been invented yet."
The remains of the door rattled on its hinges and the group turned to see Lauren enter, screeching to a halt when she saw the bodies on the floor. "…Oh." Her voice was about an octave higher than usual. "Yeah, those were the things that chased us."
"They're called dobhar-chú," Fíonn called over to her before turning to Tamsin. "Is she off-limits?"
"Pretty sure, yeah."
"Damn."
Kayleigh and Aislinn, meanwhile, were giving the doctor calculating, suspicious frowns. Lauren didn't notice until she was halfway through unpacking her medical bag. "Um…do I know you?" she asked timidly. The empaths looked at each other before turning back to the table, leaving Lauren thoroughly disconcerted.
"So what's this all about, anyway?" Fíonn inquired. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love telling stories and I have a whole lot more about specific skirmishes Dad got caught up in, but is there any particular reason for this?"
"Finally, he grows a brain!" Aislinn exclaimed in mock-delight. "Man wouldn't know a serious situation if it danced naked in front of him."
"Not true. If it were in the form of a woman, I would definitely notice. Ow! Abuse!" he protested as Aislinn smacked him again.
"I think I might be able to tell you, if I've read everybody right," Kayleigh smirked.
"Bitch, I thought you said you couldn't read minds!" Kenzi accused.
"I can't, but I can read reactions, and you can learn a hell of a lot by how people react to things. So, let me see if I have this right." She downed the rest of her beer and would have grabbed Aislinn's had her girlfriend not snatched it away. "You want to know the entire story of the tearing of the veil and you all got especially interested and hopeful when Fíonn started talking about the Treasures being the key to closing it. That suggests to me that something is currently happening with the veil and you need to know how to fix it. When Fíonn mentioned that the veil was likely to tear again, Bo got really relieved. That suggests to me that she blames herself for this tear that I'm guessing exists. And y'all freaked the fuck out when Fíonn mentioned the Wanderer, so that definitely has something to do with all of this. How am I doing so far?"
The collective reaction to Kayleigh's theory was a sigh of annoyed resignation. "That's…pretty accurate," Kenzi admitted, impressed despite herself.
"Yes, there's a tear in the veil," Trick sighed. "The Morrigan discovered it when she was chased by scald crows, and Bo had another scald crow at her window."
"And a few months ago I was captured by the Wanderer and put on a Death Train," Bo continued. "I escaped by jumping – and yes, I know, I could've died," she responded to the horrified expressions she received. "Apparently that's what tore the veil further, so that's how we figured out that the Wanderer was someone from the Otherworld."
Aislinn, Kayleigh, and Fíonn were silent as they processed this. "So what're you gonna do?" Fíonn queried as casually as he might ask for another beer.
"Well, now that we know the Treasures are the key to closing the veil, I guess we'll have to go looking for the one that's here," Hale sighed.
"There's one other thing…"
"Bo," Tamsin warned.
"No, Tamsin. I know it's crazy, but I have to know." She turned to Fíonn. "Is it possible that the veil has been torn for awhile and that we just haven't noticed until now?"
"Honestly? I think that's a lot more likely than it just having shown up. The power imbalance probably caused little rips here and there that no one noticed. What's that quote about hell breaking loose? Something like, 'I'm more worried that only part of hell will break loose because it will be harder to detect.' That's not that crazy, actually."
"That's not the crazy part." Bo wrung her hands. "I think…I had a dream about my father during my Dawning, and recently I had it again, but he called me 'mo pháiste.'"
"'My child,'" Fíonn translated.
"Yeah." The succubus paused as she contemplated her words. "I know it was just a dream, but I feel like there's something to it. I think…I think that my father might be one of the Tuatha. I think he might be the Wanderer."
Fíonn gave her a wary look. "Ok, you might want to elaborate a touch…"
"My mother…she was captured and held in captivity somewhere – for centuries. She escaped after she had me, and she wouldn't tell anyone about my father. All I know is that he was someone dark and powerful and she was afraid of him." Bo sighed.
"Have you considered asking her about it?" Aislinn asked kindly.
"The last time I saw her she had been tortured to the point of insanity. I think she escaped Taft's compound, but I haven't seen her since. I don't know what happened to her."
"Lauren knows something," Kayleigh stated. She stopped tracing the rim of her beer glass and looked over at the doctor. "Sorry, did you want to keep that a secret?"
Bo snapped her head around to stare at Lauren and the guilt in the human's eyes was all the succubus needed.
"What do you know?" Bo's quiet imploration was more demand than request.
"Bo, I – "
"What. Do. You. Know?"
Lauren's lower lip quivered. "She's…Aífe's alive," she admitted in a whimper. "She's in the hospital at the Dark compound."
Glossary:
Fíonn: When said slowly it's pronounced "fee-ON," but to speed it's "fyON." Name taken from the legendary Fíonn mac Cumhaill (known to some as "Finn McCool," but if you value your life, never call him that in Ireland). "Fíonn" can also mean "bright" or "fair."
dobhar-chú: Pronounced "DUV-ar KOO." Translates to "water hound." An Irish creature that's said to be half-otter/half-dog. In the legend of the dobhar-chú, a woman was dragged into the lake by one of the creatures, which was then killed by her husband. Before the creature died, it whistled for its mate, who then went after the husband. The man fled until he found a friend and then the two lay in wait to ambush and kill the second creature. A headstone at a graveyard in County Leitrim has a carving that depicts the dobhar-chú.
Four Treasures of the Tuatha: Treasures said to be brought to Ireland by the Tuatha. Only one is important right now and that one is the...
Lia Fáil/Stone of Destiny: Pronounced "LEE-a FAWL" (might just be "la" or "leh" instead of "LEE-a"). Sits on the Hill of Tara and is said to cry out at the touch of the rightful king of Ireland.
banshee/keening: "bean sí" in Irish ("bean" meaning "woman"). Keening is an Irish funeral pratice where the women sing a mourning song for the dead. I've turned it into a spirit-banishing power for that reason.
MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGréine: Pronounced "mak-cull," "mak-kech(k)t," and "mak-GRANE-yuh." Brothers who were the last three kings of the Tuatha (they shared the throne). All were killed in the battle against the Milesians.
triple-spiral: Symbol associated with Newgrange and Brú na Bóinne, as it appears all over the tombs. Sometimes called a triskelion.
Cast of OCs:
Kayleigh: Caitlin Stasey (but with darker, curlier hair)
Aislinn: Tabrett Bethell (but slightly younger)
Fíonn: Garrett Hedlund (when his hair is long and he has no facial hair)