Day 17 of Midwinter, Nightfall

Eastern Segais Reddeshorate, Ildatbach Bay

Annwn

“How did you know I would be here?” Fern asked me after I had fully caught her and her brother up on the state of Annwn. They had already known about the Slaugh Doctrine and the war against certain fae as part of Nuada’s war on the Fomorians. But as their own people weren’t on Nuada’s naughty list, the selkies had generally been content to stay out of the conflict.

“I didn’t,” I responded. “I was just hoping that someone here would know how to get in touch with you. Why aren't you on your ship, by the way?”

She held up the Stone. “This… THING attracts the wrong kind of attention. Are you familiar with the Cailleach Bhéara?”

“The old Hag of Winter? Oh yeah,” I said, remembering the fight on top of Wolves Hill in Ériu. I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia. “We had some good times, she and I.”

“Are you serious? She almost killed us!” Flide had apparently decided it was time to participate in the conversation.

“No, she isn’t serious,” Fern interjected, shaking her head. “We had to abandon ship. That hammer of hers knocked down our mast and nearly capsized us.”

“She is a stinker, that one…” I said, smiling. “But seriously, you probably should stay away from her. She’s one of the most powerful foes I have ever faced. If it wasn’t for Bren and that stone, I would have had a shallow grave in the mortal world.”

“So how exactly are we supposed to get the Stone and the Cauldron to Bren, assuming that is your intent?” Fern studied the stone she held with a disdainful look. She clearly wanted nothing more to do with the relic.

“Simple. We need to go to where he is.” I paused. “Or maybe where he will be?”

“Where is he now?” Fern asked.

“Or if that won’t work, how are we supposed to know where he will be?” Flide added.

I looked between the siblings, thinking about which option would be better to pursue. The last I had heard, Bren was on the Protected Isle… or beneath it in the Deep Realm. That would likely take a while to travel to, even with Fern’s help. But then again…

“Maybe these will help,” I said, rummaging through my pockets. I pulled out the papers I had taken from the Jewel before Ogma had awakened and shot me.

Flide’s mouth dropped open. “Father will not be pleased that you have these here!”

“What are they?” I asked. I knew they had the king’s seal, but I hadn’t bothered to read them yet.

Fern grabbed the papers from my hands and flipped through them quickly. “It looks like they are the war plans of Nuada.” She looked up, her eyes shining with excitement. “They are assembling in Tar Tairngire, on Mag Mór.” Those were the “great” plains north of Port Ildatbach and east of Mag Mell.

I nodded, thinking of the path of the naval ships from Murias. “The armada must be docking there. It makes sense.”

“How does this help us?” Flide asked.

“I bet you a barrel of Gorias cider that Bren and the Fomorians will be assembling on that same battlefield,” I said. I turned to Fern. “Will you be able to verify this with that shell of yours?”

Fern’s cheeks flushed red at the mention of her Shell of Promise. Flide turned away in embarrassment. I looked back and forth between the two siblings, both looking uncomfortable. Had I just stepped on some sort of selkie cultural taboo? “Sorry if…”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“No, it’s fine,” Fern said, standing straighter.

Flide turned to face his sister. “Mother and Father don’t know about your shell.”

Fern didn’t reply, instead turning to me. “I will only be able to locate him if he has submerged the shell in seawater.”

My shoulders slumped. “How does that help us?”

“I never said that it would.” Fern said, her tone tart.

“Well, chet…double chet. Farthing chet!” I paced back and forth, trying to think about what we should do. After a moment, I had made up my mind. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Why doesn’t it matter?” Flide asked.

“Because if Bren isn’t on the battlefield, we will give the items to the lords of Gorias.”

“Won’t that be the same as giving them to the king?” Fern seemed to be considering my words carefully.

“I sure hope not,” I muttered. “Especially after I tell them where I found the Cauldron.”

I thought about how Ogma must have been using the Cauldron for King Nuada. Someone had taken it from The Dagda and given it to the King and his close allies. That wouldn’t sit well with Gorias.

“Mother and Father will never support a direct action against the king,” Flide said to his sister.

“Then I won’t ask them to. I am going with Fíadan.” Fern’s face was pale, but I recognized the stubborn set to her expression.

“Fern! You can’t. What about the hag?” her brother asked. “She will kill you all.”

Fern ignored him. “Do you have a ship?”

“Maybe. Probably…” I said in an unconvincing voice. “I told them to wait for me in the deepest part of the bay.”

“That should be easy then,” she said. “They will be right above us.” She swallowed hard. “So, we are going to face the Hag of Winter, and if we survive that, we are going to war with Falias?”

She stepped closer to me, kneeling to look directly in my eyes. She looked vulnerable at that moment, so unlike the Fern I knew back on The Stern Beauty. “Promise me that this is the right thing to do.”

I shook my head, unwilling to lie. “I never know if what I’m doing is the right thing to do. But I believe this is what Bren would want.”

My words seemed to make a difference. Her face changed when I said that. She, too, had made up her mind. Flide, on the other hand, looked about as conflicted as a person could be.

He pulled his sister to her feet and clutched her arms. “I cannot let you go, Fern…” He choked on his words, unable to continue.

Well, chet, that complicated things even more. How would I smuggle Fern and the relics out of the reddeshorate, if both Flide and his parents were against us? Thousands of pissed off selkies would be a lot of blubber to cut through to reach the surface…and I had a suspicion that Fern wouldn’t be happy if I used my normal “cut through it” solution to this particular problem.

Flide cleared his throat before continuing, “I cannot let you go alone.”

Oh, I thought, moving my hands from where they’d drifted to my sheaths.

Fern hugged her brother tightly and leaned her forehead against his. “When we were back on the Beauty, and the hag nearly sunk us, I was afraid that my actions would kill you and the rest of our kin on the ship. I won’t make that mistake again. You will stay here and protect Mother and Father. That is an even more risky proposition.”

Before he could argue, she released him and then turned to move to the wall behind me. She placed her hand on a small indentation. At her touch, the color in the wall appeared to warm and glow brighter. I felt water begin to slowly climb up my feet.

“You'd best activate that ring of yours,” she said. “It’s quite a swim to the surface.”

As Fern pulled her black cloak tight around herself, it began to almost melt into her skin. Her form changed too, skin darkening as her clothing was absorbed and transformed into short, slick fur the color of her cloak. Her dark eyes grew even darker as they changed shape within her newly furry and elongated face. Flide too was changing.

I glanced down at the water that was now up to my chest, catching a last glimpse of the two seals as they dove beneath the water.

“There’s a kink for everyone, I guess,” I mumbled, wondering about Bren’s choice of woman. Then I dunked my head beneath the water, feeling the magic of Wavewalker take hold.

The walls appeared to shift and shrink back into the ground as the darkness of the water surrounded me. With the walls no longer in the way, I found myself in a colorful landscape of grand coral growing from the sea floor, each glowing with all the colors of the rainbow. It stretched for as far as I could see across the rocks and crags of the bay.

Seals swam in and out of the coral bunches, but only one that I saw was arrowing straight up. Using the power of my ring, I moved faster than the selkies of the reddeshorate, quickly catching Fern as she streaked toward the surface. In seconds, a solitary hull resting in the water above us became visible.

It appeared that Commander Scolt and Salka had successfully gotten away from the Murias fleet. Unbeknownst to them, they awaited two passengers who would likely bring all kinds of trouble to their crew and their ship.