The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance (27 page)

As Alanna approached, Kieran took the bow and nocked an arrow, sighting into the woods opposite her. In a few seconds a wolf charged out of the fog, streaking for the heavy undergrowth on Alanna’s side of the clearing. The wolf was larger than most, its blue-white eyes intel igent.

The wolf saw Alanna and veered at the last minute. Kieran’s arrow, which had left the bow, bounced off a boulder where the wolf had been a second before.

Kieran shoved his bow back at his armsman and growled. “Damn you, Alanna. I’ve been tracking that wolf al night.”

“Have you?” More likely his trackers had found the wolf for him. “That wasn’t a natural wolf,” she said. “It was a Fae-wolf. A Shifter.”

“Bloody animal. Any Shifter in my realm is fair game.”

That was true. Any Shifter who ventured here had to be crazy, which meant the Lupine had probably been captured or lured in somehow. She didn’t know enough to tel whether it were male or female, and she wondered if Kieran had stolen
its
cubs too. She hoped it found its way back to the standing stones and out.

Kieran’s hungry gaze went to the sword, the Lupine forgotten, and he snapped his fingers.

Alanna walked to him, handing over the sword with a little curtsy.

“Lovely.” Kieran hefted the blade, testing its balance. “This is perfect.”

“What are you going to use it for?” Alanna asked him.

“Simple, dear sister. To defeat Shifters.”

Nial had accused Alanna of knowing what Kieran’s spel s were for, and she did, but she didn’t understand exactly what Kieran meant to do with them.

“Defeat them?” she asked. “It’s not a good weapon for kil ing, the Shifter said. Not sturdy enough, even with the spel s.”

Kieran kept his gaze on the etched blade. “You know that I am named for our grandfather, who was kil ed by a horde of Lupine Shifters. Demons in animal skins. With this sword, I shal avenge him.”

“How?” Alanna asked. “The Shifters who kil ed him died long ago. Shifters are short-lived, you know; they last only three or four centuries at most.”

Kieran gave her a pitying look. “You are simplistic, my sister. I don’t need to find the descendants, I have the Shifters themselves. I have their bones.” He waved his hand and mists lifted from the other side of the clearing. Low mounds, a dozen of them, lay side by side, overgrown with green.

Alanna’s eyes widened. “Where are those?”

“My loyal men tracked down the graves of each of the Lupines who slaughtered our grandfather.

I had their remains brought here and reburied. I’ve been col ecting them for a long time.”

“Why?”

“For this day.” Kieran raised the sword again. “Did you not understand the spel s I gave you?

You are a fine mage, my dear, and the only one who wasn’t afraid to go to the human world. Surely you wil have worked it out.”

Alanna nodded. “You wanted to make a soul-stealer.”

“Ah, so you have not lost every bit of your intel igence after al . No, I cannot kil the Shifters who murdered our grandfather. But, if I capture their souls and make them do my bidding, they wil be miserable for eternity.”

Alanna studied the mounds, which looked vulnerable and sad. “But the Shifters have been dead so long. Their souls wil be gone – won’t they?”

“Not these Shifters. Our grandfather cursed them as he died.”

“Cursed them?”

Kieran gave her a disparaging look. “You are ignorant, Alanna. He cursed their souls to cleave to their dead bones. No going to the happy Summerland to chase rabbits for these Shifters.” Alanna hid her revulsion. Even Fae had souls that dissolved when they reached the end of their long lives. The Fae then drifted, content, free of the constraints of the body, which also dissolved.

To tie a soul to a cold, dark grave seemed to her the height of barbarity.

“Aren’t they miserable already?”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. But if
I
have their souls, they wil become aware of their suffering. I wil make certain of it.”

Alanna shrugged, pretending not to care. She had to make Kieran think she sided with him until the very last minute.

“Wel , whatever you intend do with the dogs’ souls, the sword maker kept his end of the bargain, to my surprise. I wil take his sons back to the human world.” Kieran gave her another disgusted look. “I don’t bargain with Shifters.” He snapped his fingers.

“You. Bring the Shifter’s get.”

Two attendants disappeared and returned holding the squirming Fae-cat cubs. The cubs were wrapped in nets, both attendants cursing as they dropped the bundles to the ground.

One of the attendants put his hands on his hips, panting. “They refuse to shift back to human form.”

Alanna knelt next to the net-wrapped cubs, keeping herself out of reach of their flailing claws.

“Your father sends his love,” she whispered so the attendants wouldn’t hear. “He says to tel you he’s proud of you.”

Both smal cats eyed her in suspicion, but they quieted.

Kieran strode to them. “Let us test the blade on them, shal we?” Alanna rose quickly. “You said it wasn’t a kil ing blade.”

“No, but it wil likely do some damage; they are smal , and I imagine their souls wil be . . . cute.” Alanna tried to grab Kieran’s arm, but before she could, a huge Fae-cat tore through the clearing and leaped at him.

Niall . . .

He’d fol owed her. Alanna watched in panic as the men-at-arms and attendants fought him off.

Kieran would kil Nial for certain.

Nial fought hard, but there were ten Fae to one Shifter and, after a few minutes of struggle, Nial was overwhelmed. The men-at-arms bound him in another net, and Nial went insane, fighting and clawing the ropes, foam and blood flecking his mouth.

Kieran approached Nial , rage on his face. “I’l test the blade on its maker instead.” Alanna clenched her hands in fear, but Nial raged and fought so hard through the net that Kieran couldn’t get near him. The men-at-arms advised their prince to abandon the attempt.

“Tel him to shift back,” Kieran shouted at Alanna. “He shifts back or I kil his cubs.”

“Why would he listen to me?” Alanna folded her arms. “I’m Fae. He was foul as foul can be the whole time. I hope you’re happy. Shifters disgust me.”

Nial roared, the sound fil ing the clearing. His children fought and yowled, encouraged by their father’s wrath.

“Fine,” Kieran said. “I’l shoot the bastard, instead. Good target practice.” Alanna touched his arm, trying to make her tone cool. “Why don’t you show the Shifter smith what the sword was made for?”

Kieran stopped, then a feral smile creased his face. “Sister, you wil make a fine Fae yet.

Watch, Shifter. Let me show you how I can reach into the past and hurt your kind in the present.” The Prince walked to the closest mound, flicking back his cloak. He lifted the sword and drove it point down straight through the mound.

Light flashed up the length of the sword, and a shower of dirt shot from the grave. In the midst, a swirl of smoke changed into the misty shape of a Fae-wolf. Kieran laughed. He went to the next mound, and the next, releasing the essences of the Lupines, who floated insubstantial y over the places where their bones had been buried.

Kieran flourished the sword, its silver blade flashing. “Behold the souls of those who slew my grandfather.” He turned to them, and opened his arms. “You wil surrender to me, and do what I bid. You wil kil the Shifter Feline and his cubs.”

The figures whirled around him. Alanna held her breath, fingers at her mouth. This was not what she’d expected to happen. She’d changed the spel s so that the wolves would disperse, their souls free for al eternity, not bound. Instead they lingered, like wolves gathering around prey.

Prey . . .

“Kieran!” Alanna shouted. “Drop the sword. Run!”

Kieran ignored her. He swept the sword blade through the ghostlike creatures. “Obey, wraiths.

Now you are mine.”

The wolves circled him, their eyes glowing yel ow through the mist. As one, they attacked.

Kieran cried out as the pack swept down on him in wild glee, and then he began to scream.

Nial shifted to human form, watching in amazement as the insubstantial wolves ripped into Kieran.

They were mist and smoke – they shouldn’t be able to touch him – and yet the wolves rapidly tore the Prince apart. His pristine white cloak turned scarlet, and his men-at-arms and attendants fled.

The sword flew from Kieran’s hand, as though it propel ed itself, and landed at Nial ’s feet.

Kieran screamed again. His bloody body turned in on itself and crumpled to dust.

The wolves padded in a circle around the Prince’s remains, then they lifted their heads and howled. It was a faint whisper of a howl, eerie and hol ow, but it held a note of triumph.

The wolves shifted into a dozen men with broad shoulders and flowing hair, with the light blue eyes common to Lupines. They gave Nial and Alanna a col ective look of acknowledgment, shifted back into wolves, and vanished. Wisps of smoke spun high into the sky and faded away.

Alanna caught up the sword, sliced swiftly through the net binding Nial , and helped him out of it.

She moved to cut the ropes binding Piers and Marcus. Both cubs shifted into boys, running to Nial and throwing their arms around him. Tears streamed down Nial ’s face as he knelt and gathered them in.

He looked over their heads at Alanna, who clenched the sword, her dark eyes wild. “Alanna, what happened? What did you do?”

Alanna was shaking, but she lifted her chin. “Kieran commanded me to make a soul-stealer, but I spel ed the sword to be a soul
releaser.
Instead of binding the souls of those Shifters, driving it through their remains set them free.” She drew a breath, looking white and sick. “That’s al I meant to do. I did not realize the Shifters would decide to take their vengeance – I did not know they
could
.”

As horrifying as Kieran’s death had been Nial couldn’t be unhappy that the cruel Fae who’d abducted his children and would have murdered them was gone. “If they hadn’t, the Prince would have kil ed al of us.”

“Me, certainly,” Alanna said. “I hoped that while he attacked me, you and your cubs could get away.”

Nial shot to his feet. “That was your excel ent plan? For me to run away while you
died
? ’Tis not what Shifters do for mates, lass.”

“It’s done, Nial . You must leave now. If they find you here, they wil hold you responsible.

Kieran’s cousin, his heir, had no love for him, but the Fae might demand he make an example of you.”

“And what is to say they won’t come after me into the human world?”

“Because most Fae had no love for Kieran, either.” Alanna smiled. “I doubt any of them wil be wil ing to risk entering the human world again to hunt down a Shifter to avenge his name.”

“You cannot stay here, either, lass. They’l blame you too.” Alanna gave him a thoughtful look. “Perhaps, if you exchanged your steel knives for bronze ones, I could better serve you breakfast?”

Nial ’s heart thumped fast and hard. He reached for her, pul ed her into the circle of his family.

“Love, you saved my boys, and me. You wil stay with me as long as you damn wel please.”

“Could you bring yourself to love a Fae?” she whispered.

“If that Fae was you, I think I could.”

Alanna pul ed away and held the sword out to him. “This belongs to you.” Nial closed his hand around the hilt. The sword felt right in his hand, as though he’d made it for himself to wield. “A soul-releaser?”

“I spel ed it so that when a Shifter’s soul is in peril of being bound to its body or to another’s wil , this sword wil release it in peace. The Lupine souls that had been cursed to linger at their graves have at last gone to the Summerland.”

Nial studied the lines that ran down the blade and the hilt. “Why did you do this? Why help Shifters? You’re Fae.”

“You speak in ignorance, Nial . Most of the Fae are noble people. Some like Kieran, or our grandfather, or the ones who made and enslaved the Shifters in the first place, were cruel – even we consider them cruel. Fae have long lives, and we now live remote from the human world, which makes us view things differently. Kieran’s plan was that of a child pul ing wings from a fly. I could not let him succeed.”

The boys were looking at the sword too, with the bright gazes of lads fascinated by a pretty weapon. Nial saw long days ahead explaining to them why they couldn’t touch it.

“Why didn’t you tel me, lass?” he asked. “When we made the sword together, why didn’t you tel me what you were doing?”

“Because when I walked into your forge, I knew you hated Fae. Why should you help me? You are Shifter. And to be honest, I simply didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“And you’d have been right, love. I wouldn’t have.” Nial ’s heart squeezed as he thought of the danger she’d walked into, taking the sword to the Fae realm and knowing her brother would discover what she’d done. “But you should have told me this morning what you intended.”

“ I
intended
to have your children back to you before you woke. I never thought you’d be daft enough to fol ow me to Faerie.”

“Daft, am I?” Nial tilted her face to his. “I am, to love a Fae. Now let’s be going, before your brother’s keepers return for us.”

They went, through the mists and the standing stones, back to the freezing wind from the wild sea, the light dancing on the waves and the green of the Great Isle across the strait. The wind tossed Alanna’s hair, which streamed like gold.

They returned to the cottage, where Piers and Marcus ate ravenously and regaled them with their adventures with the enthusiasm of boys no longer afraid. Nial hung the sword point downwards on the wal , the blade gleaming softly.