Defiance (The Priestess Trilogy) (41 page)

Shiovra
’s breath caught in her throat. Before her stood the
spirit of her mother,
Tríonna
.
“Mother?” she stammered in disbelief.

Tríonna smiled gently
, nodding
. “
Aye, it is me,”
she said. “
On Samhain the barriers between the worlds are
weak. I could feel the trouble in your heart
, the pain and fear, so I
came to you.”

“
I have missed you so
…”
Shiovra
said, tears stinging her eyes
.
Several emotions flooded her: happiness, love, surprise…sadness.

“
And I you
, my daughter,”
Tríonna reassured her. “
But not once do I regret what I did that night. You have grown into a fine woman without me and Mahon a fine man. I only regret that I will not see you wed or hold your children
.
”
She paused, her smile turning sad.
“Tell me, what is it that troubles you so?”

“Ainmire…” breathed
Shiovra
, hesitating. “Ainmire will die and I will not be able to stop it. Tara will fall.
We
will fall.”
Shiovra
shook her head. “What must I do?” She looked up at her mother.

“
Fate cannot be changed, only delayed,”
Tríonna replied. “
I learned thus myself. If the Morrigú have foreseen the death of Ainmire, it cannot be prevented, only delayed. And you have done thus
to the best of your ability
.
Not everyone can be saved. Not every battle can be won.
As for Tara falling, it has before, many times. This sacred place has been home to many before us. Thus is the way of things,
Shiovra
.
” She cocked her head to the side, smiling sadly.
“The
time
of the Túatha Dé Danann is coming
to an end, that we must accept.”

“Must it be this way?” asked the priestess. “Must there be battles and death? Could we not just live in peace?”

Tríonna
shook
her head g
ravely.
“I am afraid not,”
she replied.
“My time here grows short.
Heed my words: y
ou will know Ainmire has passed
when the wail of the bean sidhe is heard across Éire
,”
she said softly. “
His spirit will find its way to the Cave of Cruachan
and he shall know peace in Tir Na n’Og with his wife and child
.”
Tríonna smiled once more
, a gentle and warm smile
. “
Be strong,
my heart
.”
Her form began to fade.

“Mother!”
Shiovra
cried out
.

Tríonna smiled sadly. “
I must go,”
she said, voice distant.
“As must you, daughter…”
Tríonna reached out a hand to caress
Shiovra
’s cheek
before
vanished completely.

Sagging roughly to her knees, she
remained still while tears rolled freely
down her cheeks. She felt as if her mother had been torn from her all over again.

The shadow is upon us.

Her heart skipped a beat and she leapt to her feet.
Shiovra
spun around only to find
remained
alone
in the heavy fog
,
though
she could feel a presence surrounding her.

The shadow is upon us.

“Dana…” the priestess breathed.

The Stone of Destiny we
eps at the loss of Tara’s
chieftains…

Shiovra
frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand…” Her voice trailed of
f as the cry of a crow sounded across the breeze
. “The Morrigú…?” Realization dawned upon her and she paled. “Ainmire!”

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Battle horns sounded through Tara, echoing off the hills and cottages
. The merriment of celebration came to an abrupt halt, only
to be replaced with
fearful murmurs.
Torches flared as all of Tara gathered
outside the main cottage to wait tidings of what was happening
.
Meara
’s men
stood guard alongside village warriors
while the
priestess’s warriors had gathered with Ainmire’s kin for council.

Shiovra
paced the cottage
with a trembling hand clutched to her chest. The feeling of dread clung to her heart
.

They had searched the entire village, but no sign of Ainmire could be found. Furthermore, the guards posted at the village gates had not seen him pass through. When questioned further, one of the warriors mentioned having heard a woman’s voice softly singing a lullaby. When the man sang the melody, Earnán paled and said it was the one his late sister Deirdre used to sing to her child to help him sleep.

“
I
do not know how he got away,”
Meara
had been saying. “
One moment I was talking with him, the next he was gone from my sight.” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration
. “I do not understand.
How did he leave the ground
s
without a single warriors or villager seeing him?
”

“You need not understand,” Ceallach interrupted. “
Gráinne
lured him away while allowing your warriors to believe they watched him. Such tricks are within her
limited
power. She may have failed as a priestess, but she did learn a few
tricks
. What is important is that we find him before his life is lost.”

“I fear we may already be too late,” Shiovra said quietly.

Ceallach turned to her. “Use you sight. Can you see which path he has taken?” he questioned in an even tone, eyes meeting hers firmly. “The sooner we know where he was led, the sooner was can unleash our counter attack.”

“I shall do what I can.” Shiovra walked to her bed and dug through a bag,
pulling out a small pouch and dumping a piece of quartz into her palm. Closing her eyes, she
took a deep breath and focused on Ainmire, picturing his face in her mind
, his voice, his mannerisms
. Whispers filled her mind and colors danced across her eye lids. She heard voices, several voices speaking, calling,
and shouting
. Then she found his. She could hear Ainmire’s voice. She could hear his rough breath and heartbeat.
“Where are you?” she whispered out loud
. “Tell me, Ainmire. Where are you?”

It is already too late for me.

“Show me where you are!” she insisted.

The quartz became warm
on her palm
, her power coursing through it.
Shiovra
could see it, the village where he stood. A village that would soon be consumed with flames. Opening her eyes,
she grabbed Odhrán’s dagger from his belt and crouched down, etching the layout of Tara into the packed dirt floor. Then leaning over, she marked a spot southwest of the village
.
“There,” she said, looking up. “Ainmire is there.”

Odhrán nodded and pulled the priestess to her feet, taking his dagger from her hands. “
Meara
,
you and
your men are to remain here and keep guard over the villagers. The gates are to be shut tight and every able man armed.
We are taking no chances,”
he
ordered
, slipping the dagger back into his belt before grabbing a bow and quiver of arrows
. “Ceallach, I want you
, Earnán
,
and Daire to come with me. The less attention we draw, the easier we can slip in and the quicker we can get out
.”

“What about
me?” Eiladyr asked, frowning as he
rubbed the beard he was growing in.

“
Stay here and guard the priestess
,”
Odhrán
replied
firmly
. “
Shiovra has a tendency to be reckless when it comes to the lives of her people
.”

The
man nodded in agreement.

Shio
vra knew protesting would be futile and so she remained silent.

“Then it is decided,”
Earnán said
, grabbing his cloak and securing it around his shoulders
. “We must make haste.”

“M
ay the Morrigú be with you
,” Mahon said from where he sat in the shadowed corner.

Shiovra
watched as D
aire took up his bow and belted
his sword about his waist while Meara grabbed her spear. Everything seemed to move very quickly around the priestess and before she realized it, they were walking from the cottage. Reaching a hand out, Shiovra
grabbed Odhrán’s arm, brining pause to his step.

The Milidh man
looked at her questioningly
.

Shiovra’s hold on his arm tightened and she met his eyes without waver.
“Keep a wary eye out
,” she
told him firmly
.
“The Fomorii are known for their tricks. Do not let them take you by surprise before reaching Ainmire.”

“Fret not,” he told her, leaning close to place a gentle kiss on her temple. “Nothing could keep me from returning to your side.”

“Be safe
,” she whispered before releasing him.

Odhrán nodded and turned, leaving the cottage.

Shiovra stood in the doorway, watching as the forms of the three men slowly vanished within the fog. She could not shake the feeling of dread clenching tightly at her heart.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

It w
as late into the night when they
reached the outskirts of the village
where Ainmire was being held
.
Crouched
amongst the brush and trees,
they
carefully
took
in the layout of the
small
village. There
were only the beginnings of an
outer wall to pr
otect the cottages, leaving them highly defenseless in the event of an attack
. Odhrán went ahead to scout the area
. Bodies of
some
villagers lay lifeless on the ground
, but from the number, he was sure more hid within their cottages
.
He counted
at least
ten enemy warriors positioned throughout the village
.
Judging from their placement and number, he deemed which cottage Ainmire was being held in.

Returning to the others
, he informed them of his finding,
“There is poor vigil
on the cottage where Ainmire is held,” he said. “Both guards
sleep. To have such poor watch means either they are foolish, or they are expecting us to come.
I believe it would be the latter.
Let us make haste and show them where their fault lay in assuming they will best us.”

They pressed silently through the village, slipping through the shadows till the cottage where Ainmire was held came into sight. As Odhrán had
told, the two men guarding it
slept soundly. Muffled sounds of laughter and drunken shouting drifted from the cottage
door
.

“How should we do this?” queried
Daire
, voice low.

Ceallach
looked around the cottage they hid behind and studied the two sleeping men. “They have been drinking greatly. There are empty jugs of mead
all around them,” replied the Fomorii man in a low voice
. “We need to ensure they will not be woken by any…sounds…which may come from within.”

They nodded in agreement.

“Well then, shall we give them a lesson?” whispered Earnán?

Daire
grinned broadly
.

“
Stop wasting time
,” Odhrán said softly, face calm and unreadable. “
Get moving
.”

Swiftly and quietly
Daire and Earnán
set upon the two men. In unison,
the men
struck the two guards over the head with the very mead jugs they had been drinking from. With hardly a sound, the
guards
crumpled to the ground with muted thuds.