Aaibhe patted Frankie’s back and held her comfortingly. “My Fae child, you are a Daoine. Your father is a great warrior. Trevor and Jazmine are both brilliant and mighty so none will get near any of them. We will defeat the beasts.”
Frankie looked up at her and said, “Aye then, but I want to help.”
“And you shall. You must stay safe so they don’t have to worry about you” Aaibhe dropped a kiss on the child’s forehead.
Frankie agreed to it, but Aaibhe could see the child’s mind was working the matter through. She wasn’t so sure Frankie would stay put for too long. She had to keep her diverted because she had to come into her own slowly and ease into what she was going to be.
Chapter Ten
JAZZ LOOKED UP the avenue that led to the Inverness Castle overlooking the gray water of Inverness River. The red sandstone structure was massive. Once an 11th century defensive stronghold, it had been built to withstand an army and time. She remembered reading that Shakespeare had used this castle as his setting for Macbeth.
Inverness Castle—here she was in Scotland. How long ago was it when she was simply human with human dreams?
She looked around warily. Her eyes were no longer those of a tourist, but of a warrior. Her Fae senses clicked in on what was present and what was not.
Only the grounds of the castle were open to the public. She could see from the bus load of people in the parking lot that there were quite a few who meant to enjoy the extensive landscaped beauty of the castle.
She watched as the tourists disembarked from the bus. They were all chattering and excited to look back into the past and imagine what it was like to live in another time. For a while, she had done that…
Jazz would never have thought that she, a Fios, would be in Scotland fighting a war against a race of monsters, and not only standing beside Fae Royals, but finding herself desperately in love with one. Jazz, Ete, and the warriors were invisible to the humans. It was an odd sensation knowing that she couldn’t be seen. When she was still human, she would have seen past the Féth Fiada and would have been terrified at the sight And now, ha, she was part of that sight--weird. It seemed like not too long ago, she was working as a tour guide for seniors to waste away the summer before she began her job in the fall as a Marine Biologist. She had wondered where that girl had gone, and what happened to her life.
Ete broke into her thoughts, “Do you see them—the monoliths. They are beautiful are they not? It’s so sad that they should be used for such evil.”
“I agree. I wonder how they are floating like that above the river. Is Pestale causing that?”
“No. They aren’t floating Jazmine. If you look closer, you will see that they are at the water’s edge. The monoliths have an aura that only Fae can see. That is what makes you think they are floating.” She smiled at Jazz. “Your transition must be near completion if you can see the aura of the monoliths.”
“That’s good, right? I gotta tell you I don’t feel like I’m Fae. I mean, I can sense a new power just like when I sense my Fios. I still feel like… well… like me,” Jazz said frowning over it.
“You are still you, Jazmine. You will always still be you and I have no doubt that while the Seelie Fae in you will be dominant in most respects, your human side will always drive your nature.” Ete shrugged. “How could it not? We are what we are because of many things, life experiences being top on that list.” Ete looked around and suddenly said on a very sad note, “We didn’t arrive in time. The abominations are almost here. They are already in the web of the portal. It will start spitting them out, but our first priority is to contain the creatures and spare the humans.” She took Jazz’s hand. “Repeat what I say, but don’t just say the ancient Danu words. Concentrate on all of your abilities in giving those words meaning.”
Jazz licked her bottom lip. Before she was able to ask Ete how she was supposed to understand, Danu started translating for her as Ete spoke.
Jazz heard Ete and repeated each word with feeling, and a deeper understanding. “ballai cloiche a chaomhau, greilli agus treilis, beartoidh mé, ni, aon, ni, coimeadam.”
Jazz realized as she said these words and concentrated her newfound power on the meaning, that she could feel the might surge and penetrate the atmosphere.
She had Seelie blood pumping through her. She would never get used to that. She looked at Ete who looked totally absorbed in what she was doing and continued to repeat the words that demanded the portal to close and seal its predators within its membraned tunnel and shift to the wasteland.
As Seelie Fae, they should have the ability to override any Unseelie commands or spells. Though the portal spluttered it did not close. It had remained right where it was!
“What’s wrong?” Jazz shouted over the noise the portal was creating. The winds had picked up as though nature was being tormented by their spell and their presence.
Ete looked at Jazz and answered, “The Dark King is Seelie, probably Daoine Seelie. If the Dark Princes, as the Queen and I have long suspected, have the Dark King’s blood then the portal would sense the Seelie in them. It would be impossible to deny their request to open. Closing the portals will be more difficult than we anticipated.”
They repeated the words and suddenly Ete turned to be greeted by forty warriors at their back. All of whom had Danu weapons recently forged by Danu dust. The Queen had discovered them in abundance near the Upper Lake of Killarney. Ete bade her warriors be ready for the Portal’s mouth was widening, instead of closing.
There was total and utter silence. Then with a howl of hunger--they came.
Coming out of the portal, in groups of not less than ten, were monsters with limbs shaking, saliva dripping, spiked hair and teeth grinding. Jazz thought she had never seen anything quite so hideous or as frightening as this mass of attacking hordes of hungry beasts. Not even in her time in the Dark Realm. From what she could determine, most of them looked like giant insects; the kind of insects that create nightmares of the worst kind.
Spiders as large as tigers, roaches as huge as cars, centipedes and vicious beetles as large as humans, clicking their pinchers as they emerged.
And thus, it began.
Ete spread out her arms as the warriors formed a band.
“Jazmine spread out your arms and call for your energy. They can’t pass through our wards. We can contain them for a few moments while the warriors lessen their numbers.”