Divine by Choice (16 page)

He nodded and stepped around the oak, positioning himself so that he, too, was straddling the stream.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

He nodded again and together we raised our hands until our palms pushed against opposite sides of the trees. We were facing each other, and I looked up to meet the intensity of his gaze. The power of the trees surged between us and I realized that I could feel within them the beating of Clint's heart and the pulsing of his blood. It was as if I was connected to his life force. I blinked rapidly and unexpectedly I could see the aura that silhouetted him. It was jewel blue tinged with faceted shades of amber and gold around the edges. And it was hypnotic.

His voice broke into my mind. It was raw with emotion. “If you want me to think about sending you away from here, you have to stop looking at me like that.”

“I'm sorry!” I snapped my eyes shut, forcing his image from my mind.

ClanFintan!
I summoned my memories. I remembered his gentleness with me, how he let me accustom myself to the reality of loving a being that was so foreign to everything I'd ever experienced. How I had fallen in love with his integrity and honesty before I knew his heart and soul. I remembered the Change, and its poignant beauty, which caused him to endure such pain before we could make love.

Beneath my palms I felt the skin of the moss quiver. Keeping my head bowed, I opened my eyes and focused on
the stream of water beneath me. As I watched, the water shifted and refracted, like a well-oiled window being lifted. I peered through the opening to glimpse the world beyond.

I could see the mirrored clearing. It looked exactly like this one, only it was empty. Without hesitation, I called the power that surged within me and cast it through the water and into Partholon, like a long-distance homing device held on a cord of energy. Again, I felt shivers run through the trees, and I concentrated on the aura I had seen surrounding Clint just moments earlier. I focused on calling its mirror image to me.

I didn't have a sense of time passing, all I knew was that I had to keep all of my being focused on that call. Soon I had to blink quickly to clear the drops of sweat that ran from my forehead and pooled around my eyes. Part of me could feel that my breathing had increased and that my clothes were becoming soaked through, and hung in damp folds against my body.

My arms had begun to shake when I heard a sound that quickly grew in intensity. Almost hypnotized, I gazed through the stream and with a crash of breaking undergrowth ClanFintan stormed into the clearing, his sapphire-blue aura plainly visible—the gold around its edges pulsing wildly.

“Shannon!”
The power in his voice echoed eerily through the stream.

“Here!” I cried in response.

His centaur body lunged with inhuman speed to the trees. He slid to a halt in the exact place held by Clint in this world.

“How do I help you?”
The frustration in his voice was a reflection of my own.

“Concentrate! Put your hands against the trees and think of me.”

Immediately he raised his hands so that they lay against the trees. I saw his eyes close and heard the echo of his response.
“My love, I think of nothing else.”

I pushed, and felt my hands slide into moss that now felt like warm jelly. Again I heaved forward and the liquid mass enclosed my arms up to the elbows. I slipped forward even farther and suddenly felt my palms touch another's hands. Those hands were larger and warmer than a human man's.

Through the stream I could see ClanFintan's eyes shoot open and I tried frantically to make my hands obey my order to grab onto his.

Then from somewhere behind him I saw a flutter of activity as a curtain of darkness entered the clearing. At that instant I felt a change within the trees. The power I had been tapping into faltered and sputtered, as if something was draining it away from me.

I turned my head slightly, dividing my attention between ClanFintan and the thing that was now well within the Partholonian clearing. The darkness rippled and oozed from the forest, seeping over the ground like an oil spill. As it got close, I was shrouded by all too familiar feeling. A shudder ran through my body and I identified the source of that familiarity, and as understanding hit me I couldn't believe I hadn't recognized it before now. Evil. The kind of evil that had traveled with the Fomorian army.

The shadow came closer. It had no real form, and was hard to see clearly—like it was a shadow within a shadow.

Through our touching palms, I felt ClanFintan's body shudder.

“Something is…”
His words echoed through the divide and he raised his head to glance over his shoulder.

And then the dark shape liquefied completely, spilling slickly into the crystal stream. In horror I saw the waters at
my feet turn a loathsome, oily black as darkness spewed from one world to another.

“Shannon! What is happening?”
ClanFintan's voice seemed farther away.

“I don't kn—” My words broke off as the thing swirled past my feet and leeched up on the bank. It drew itself up and solidified into a winged shape that sent my breath rushing from my body in a panicked burst that was one word.

“Nuada!”

“Yessss, female,” the creature gurgled from the darkness that was its mouth. “I have answered your call. Now we shall begin our game anew.”

“No!” I screamed at him. My concentration shattered. I could no longer feel ClanFintan.

As the trees spit my hands out of their liquid interior, I heard my name torn from my husband's throat in a single savage call. Like a giant had blown its breath over the surface of the stream, the water shifted and the mirror image of Partholon disappeared. I stumbled several steps away from the trees.

The creature moved toward me with a liquid, slithering sound.

“I am pleased you called to me.” His voice gurgled with a dark parody of laughter. Then he raised half-formed arms, trying to curl his molten hands into claws.

I stared at the thing in front of me, my mind unable to grasp what I was seeing.

“But you're dead,” I said stupidly.

“No longer, female,” hissed his wet reply. “We are connected. Do not pretend that you did not use dark power to awaken me and summon me here.” He moved closer and I watched in horror as his claws began to solidify. “I have missed you, female, almost as much as I have missed feeling life within me.”

“Stay back.” Clint's calm voice split the air between us and he stepped protectively in front of me.

Nuada stopped, glaring at the man. “This weak reflection of your mutant mate thinks you belong to him.” Pieces of darkness spewed from his lips as he hurled the words at Clint. I could see the creature's aura pulsing around him, with a blackness that was the complete absence of goodness. He pulled himself up to his full height, spreading his pulsing wings. “I shall enjoy killing him.”

“No!” I screamed.

Nuada descended upon Clint. A shadow within a shadow, he seemed to melt to the human. I stood frozen in shock; all I could do was watch the creature absorb Clint. But as his claws drove down for a disemboweling blow, Clint's own aura shimmered and the outer gold tinge crackled, shooting sparks where it came in contact with Nuada's darkness.

The creature shrieked and stepped back.

“Human!” Nuada's voice held the sound of death. “I feel your magic, but you have not the strength to stand against me.” The creature held his dripping arms to the sky, and it seemed that shadows from the forest disengaged themselves and flew into his hands. His death-colored aura pulsed madly. The creature moved forward again.

This time when he came into contact with Clint's aura, the brilliant golden sparks had faded to the yellow of candlelight. It was enough to make Nuada step back once more, but only just out of reach of the aura. I saw the strain clearly visible on Clint's sweat-covered face, as did the demon.

“Your pathetic strength is waning.” Nuada hissed as he moved forward again.

I lunged to Clint's side and grabbed his hand with both of mine, which were still unnaturally warm from their contact with the trees. Concentrating, I hurled all of that warmth into
Clint, just as I had hurled it through the stream and into Partholon. At the same moment, Nuada stepped within the walls of the vibrant blue fortress.

Sparks shot like lightning through Nuada's dark body and his scream echoed against the forest edge. Nuada's form seemed to collapse in upon itself as he was flung backward.

“You are mine. Until I possess you, what you love I will destroy, be it in this world or the next.” The words hung in the air as the shadowy form dissipated into the forest.

A wave of dizziness sloshed through my head, blurring my sight. My knees buckled. With a groan, I dropped Clint's hand and fell to the cold ground.

“Shannon!” Clint knelt beside me, pulling me into his arms.

“I c-c-can't f-feel my l-legs.” My teeth were chattering and I was shaking uncontrollably. I looked up into Clint's pale face and tried to lift my hand to touch his cheek, but my arm wouldn't obey the simple command. I felt oddly detached from my body, like it and I didn't belong together.

“Don't talk,” he said. Frantically, he threaded his hands under my armpits and linked them across my chest. Breathing heavily, he heaved backward, dragging me toward the two pin oaks.

My vision tunneled until a thick band of gray framed everything. I heard a strange noise, and realized it was my own breath coming in gasps.

With a grunt, Clint closed the last bit of space between the trees and us. Gently he stepped from behind me, and pulled me into a sitting position so that I was resting my back against one of the mossy trunks.

As if it was happening to someone else, I could feel the heat of the tree against my back, but that warmth didn't seem accessible any longer. The cold in my body was too over
whelming, and my consciousness began to flicker like a candle in a gale.

Through a film of gray I could see Clint drop to his knees, straddling my lap. He reached up and put his palms on either side of my head, pressing them against the side of the tree.

“Help her,” he demanded. “She's dying!”

The jolt of warmth that flowed urgently into my body shocked me, and a groan of pain escaped my numbed lips as feeling began to return to my limbs. My arms and legs were being pricked with hundreds of sharp little pins. My expanding chest felt tight as I breathed deeply. I gulped the life-bringing air and realized groggily that I must have quit breathing. With paralyzing fear I thought of my child, and was rewarded with a wonderful rush of nausea.
Oh, Epona, let her be safe.

The gray mist swirled, and then cleared from my vision. Clint's face swam into focus. This time my arm obeyed me when I told it to lift, and I reached up, letting my thumb wipe away a tear that slid down the side of his face.

“I'm okay now.” My voice was a weak whisper.

“Thank your Goddess,” he rasped. I noticed his arms were trembling.

“And you.” My hand fell back to my side, and I pressed my back more firmly against the life-giving oak.

Clint rocked back on his heels and moved off my lap to sit beside me, his own back resting against the tree, too. I could feel him watching me, but I didn't turn my head to meet his gaze. Instead, I stared across the clearing, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

At that moment, the slate-colored sky opened and delicate flakes began to fall silently to the ground.

“It's snowing,” I said softly.

I could feel Clint's jerk of surprise. “Do you think you can move away from the tree now?”

I nodded weakly, suddenly aware of the chill in the air and the cold dampness of my sweat-soaked clothing. Stiffly Clint pushed himself to his feet. I raised my hands and he pulled me up to stand beside him, putting gloves on us both.

“Can you walk?” he asked.

“Yes.” My voice still sounded strange, but at least I was firmly attached to my body again. I was wobbly and light-headed, but I was pretty sure I could walk.

I looked up at the swollen sky. The delicate flakes had been replaced with thicker, thumb-size blobs and the wind had picked up, causing them to fall at a sharp angle. I shivered and drew the damp collar of my coat around my neck.

“We need to get back to the cabin.” Clint's tone reflected his worried expression. He linked his arm through mine, and we stepped out of the shelter of the two trees and into the wind-driven snow.

My legs were unsure, and I leaned heavily on Clint's arm. My breath was coming hard as we reached the edge of the clearing and stepped beneath the canopy of the forest. We picked our way slowly through the undergrowth until we found the small path. Not giving me time to pause, Clint pulled me down the path until we came to an especially ancient-looking oak. Then he guided me the few steps off the trail to the massive tree and let me lean numbly against its healing trunk. My eyes closed as I drew within me its warmth and the tendrils of its power.