Chapter 20

Strength Within

A huge flash of energy caught Brendan’s eye during his battle with Dullahan. He felt the power shift in the room and he knew what had happened.

“My master has won, fool,” taunted Dullahan. “Give up.”

“Go to hell!” demanded Brendan.

Dullahan charged forward, but Brendan was infuriated. He didn’t even bother to raise his sword at the advancing demon, instead choosing to lift a single hand causing Dullahan to freeze in mid-stride. If he would have had a face, Brendan was sure that he would have seen absolute shock on it.

“Let me help you get there.” Brendan sent Dullahan straight into the wall and the demon vanished in a cloud of smoke.

He turned back to Morna and cocked his head to one side and cracked his neck. Morna stood near the altar, smiling with her arms folded into her robes.

“What now, boy?” she asked. “Do you expect to defeat me when I have the power of the Merrows, the Sidhes, and the Leprechauns added to my own? It’s laughable!” She plucked the obsidian dagger from the altar and blew the ashes away from the edge.

“What makes you think that all that magic’s going to save you?” asked Brendan to her surprise.

The witch cackled again. Brendan couldn’t help but think about the Wizard of Oz. He doubted water was going to melt this witch, though.

“I think I’ll let my new slave take care of you.” She flicked her finger in Dorian’s direction and instantly she began to change. She rose to her feet a mutated form of herself.

When Dorian was fully upright, she turned to face Brendan. She had porcelain skin and pointy fangs that protruded from her lips. Her eyes were gold and her hair had a mind of its own, as if she was floating underwater. She had black claws at the ends of her boney fingers. She resembled the scariest goth chick ever. Brendan was always a little afraid of those girls back at home. He never quite knew why until this moment.

“Quite fetching, isn’t she?” Morna said laughing. She turned to Dorian. “Queen Dorian, destroy your betrothed.”

“Betrothed?” asked Brendan in surprise.

Dorian charged forward with her fangs bared and claws slashing. Brendan dodged and moved but didn’t strike back. Dorian was way quicker than he remembered, though, and she caught his cheek with a left claw. Hot, painful blood dripped down out of the wound. She also threw kicks and punches and objects at him. She even released a pulse of red energy, and it drove him into the altar, causing it to tip over. His weight, making it tip forward, tilted the opposite end into the air.

“Owww,” he said.

Dorian was relentless and ran in and kicked him in the chest causing the altar to slide into the wall. The legs of the altar came off like shrapnel. She kicked again, but this time he caught her foot and flipped her away from him. She crashed to the floor, but quickly sprang to her feet.

“Give it up, witch, before you are destroyed.” Brendan kept one eye on Dorian and one on Morna. The witch was content to watch Dorian do her dirty work.

“What do you owe the Leprechauns, boy?”

“My name is Brendan,” he replied in a shout. “I think you should know who’s going to defeat you.”

“You mean your name is Nuada, don’t you?” she grinned maliciously.

Brendan didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about, nor the time to respond because Dorian was on him in a second. She grabbed him and hoisted him into the air and flung him across the room towards the balcony. She ran and grabbed him by the throat off of the floor and arched him over the railing. She was strong and held him in place.

Morna stepped into Brendan’s line of sight and stood in front of the altar. She flipped the obsidian dagger in the air like a chef. “Looks like Nuada’s chosen warrior has failed just as he did long ago.”

“What are you talking about?” grunted Brendan.

“So long, Brendan. Thanks for making this all so exciting.”

The witch held the dagger by the handle and hurled it end over end at Brendan’s face. Brendan pushed Dorian away and spun to the left. He reached out with his right hand and snatched the dagger out of the air by the handle. He rotated it back to his right and let the dagger fly back at Morna. The witch was so surprised that the dagger had penetrated her chest through the heart and pinned her to the altar before she recognized what had happened.

Dorian made to attack but collapsed to the floor. Brendan ignored her for the moment and stalked cautiously towards Morna.

“I warned you,” he said.

Blood trickled out of the corner of Morna’s mouth and fell onto her robes. Despite the fact that she was dying, she smiled. “Something worse is coming, Nuada’s champion, and you have wrought it upon this world. I see now what my master had planned.“ She was lost for the briefest of moments in reverie before turning her dying attention to Brendan. “Prepare yourself for war.”

Brendan allowed her to hang limply on the dagger and ran over to Dorian’s side. He turned her over and held her head. The pale color darkened to her normal skin tone, her fangs receded into her mouth, and her black claws retreated into her fingers as everything went back to normal.

“Dorian?”

She moved slightly and her eyelids fluttered opened. “What… what happened?”

Brendan pursed his lips at what he was going to have to tell her. “It’s over.”

He helped her get to a sitting position and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She stared up at him and asked, “My father?”

Brendan shook his head and pulled her close when she began to cry. He held her tightly because he felt the waves of pain coming off of her. “Even after the power left him, he was never really hers, Dorian. That’s why she killed him.” With tear filled eyes, she looked up. “He died because she couldn’t break him.”

She smiled weakly and laid her head upon his chest.