The river ran against us, rushing downhill through the ravine. Dark trees rushed past either side of me as we dashed through a row of trees that lined the crest of the steep rolling hills.

I’d gone to Cliodhna first to request the aid of several of my sisters take me to Brigid’s normal resting place on the Otherside. Yeah, it was humiliating, admitting I did need their help after all. But if I was honest, I didn’t mind the extra help. When it came time, I made it clear to my sisters that I would be the one to end Brigid.

I learned that Brigid guarded the sacred eternal flame in an ancient temple. All we had to do was try to put the flame out and she would flip out. That would give me an opening to attack her and take her head off, if everything went according to plan.

Running uphill, I should have been tired, but the Keening power offered more stamina than my Good Luck ever had. The Keening power came so easy. I loved it already and wondered why I’d been so afraid to give in. I needed a push into it. Which was why I was glad that Queen Cliodhna had done so literally, pushing that wimp Sean into the pool so that I could emerge victorious. But I only had this one chance to prove myself to my Queen, to prove my loyalty without a shadow of a doubt. She needed to know that I could be trusted, that I had dominated that pathetic Sean, suppressed him for good.

The line of trees opened to a clearing where minor landscaping had been done to keep the trees growing around the temple, but not on the temple grounds themselves. Flickering firelight from within cast deep shadows around the grounds, but from what I could make out, the temple though ancient and weathered was not in ruins, The smell of smoke, melting metal, the clinking of tools, and the crackling wood all told me that both a large bonfire blazed within and that some part of that fire was being used to forge weapons.

Brigid was the goddess of smithing and guardian of the eternal flame. Fire cauterized wounds, made raw food edible, purified bad water, and turned raw metal into forged weapons. It offered warmth, and it symbolized life. It was power. And it needed to be snuffed out for the greater Chaos.

Panting, the sisters looked to me. We reviewed the plan beforehand.

I waited a moment as a massive lumbering shadow emerged from behind the temple. With slow shuffles it moved on all four hooves. It broke from the shadow of the temple and I recognized it to be Torc Triath, Brigid’s dire boar. Even though my sisters warned me it was large, the fact that it was the size of a small school bus with tusks longer and thicker than swimming pool noodles still surprised me. It grazed on the foliage growing beneath the trees, chomping down entire bushes in a few snaps of its jaw. Otherwise it seemed docile.

Giving my sisters each a commanding pat on the back, I sent them into the shadows. They would find a way into the temple from the steeple roof, while I planned on climbing through a window. Due to the flame being eternal and the sheer size of the bonfire, there were no need for glass in any of the temple window frames. They were open to the elements. I found my way beneath a large stone windowsill and waited.

Screeches pierced the air. I heard yelling and scrambling as the defenders of the flame moved to protect it.

I scaled the stone wall to the windowsill and stood in the opening, observing the event below me.

Women in smithing aprons wielding spears stared up at my Banshee sisters who perched in the rafters of the temple. With each shriek, sonic blasts of air rained down from above, causing the eternal flame to flicker like an enormous birthday candle. They threatened to snuff the flame out which drew the goddess Brigid out into the open.

To be fair, if I wasn’t under direct orders from Queen Cliodhna, I would take a pass at the auburn haired beauty. She was way hotter than Sean’s disgusting, ethnically confused girlfriend. But I lived to serve Lady Luck.

Determination set on Brigid’s face and she commanded her temple assistants. “Protect the sacred flame! Bring them down!”

The women launched spears at my sisters, but the screeches batted the spears away.

While they were distracted, I called out to Brigid. “Cliodhna has laid claim to your life!”

The sisters stopped the screaming. Only the blaze of the eternal flame filled the air.

Brigid spun on her heels, the train of her robe swirling beneath her. Our eyes locked, and though I was a pale shadow compared to Sean, she knew me for what I was.

In a flash I unsheathed Jade, gazing down the edge of the blade at her. “I’m here to collect, and pay my debts.”

Brigid was not impressed. “And who comes to collect?”

“Asen Scáth. Slayer of Sluagh, stealer of Fragarach, killer of the Kelpie, and champion of the Banshee Queen.”

Her stout women slipped armor crafted specifically for her torso over Brigid’s head and tightened leather straps while others brought her a circular wooden shield and long spear.

She stood between me and the bonfire her form simplified to a silhouette. “Male Banshees are rare. How did Cliodhna come by such a formidable warrior?”

I hesitated, not wanting to give her an edge over me by revealing too much of my past. But arrogance got the better of me. “Sean used to walk the path of Order. But Cliodhna showed him the error of his ways, baptized him in the waters of Chaos. I emerged and she offered me forgiveness if I but fell her most hated enemy.”

“She showed you your inner darkness in her cursed pool, did she not?”

Her question made assumptions I did not like. “It didn’t show me the inner darkness. It showed me my true potential, the power being withheld from me. I’m so much stronger now thanks to her.”

“Really?” Brigid paced before the flame. “But she spoke not of what the flame could show you?”

I frowned. “No.”

“Don’t listen to her lies, Scáth,” belted one of my sisters.

“See. They would rather you not know the truth,” said Brigid with a smile. “I offer the truth freely. All I ask is for a strand of your hair.”

My sisters leapt from the rafters landing between me and Brigid. Claws emerged from their hands and they hissed at Brigid.

Intrigued, I plucked a strand of my hair. How bad could it be?

“No brother. You must not do this.”

But it only made me want to see what Brigid had to offer all the more.

The sisters turned on me, claws pressing against my chest.

I growled. “Do you threaten me?”

My grip tightened on Jade while my blood orange eyes bored into them. I hissed. They stepped back a few paces, eyes falling to the floor. Careful to keep my grip on Jade in case Brigid tried anything funny, I passed my strand of hair to her.

She whispered, letting her breath brush against the strand. Small Celtic knots formed around the strand until it turned from white to orange.

She threw it into the fire.

At first nothing happened.

Then images flashed in the flames. Visions of Sean, played out for all of us to see. The images cycled fast with just enough time for me to register them before the next image flared. Some were visions of the past, some of the present, and others must have been of the future. They blipped by at random, no order to them whatsoever.

Sean fighting the Banshee on Mom’s roof.

Weak Sean’s power unlocked by Nehemiah’s staff.

Justin’s gang shooting at weak Sean and his stupid hobgoblin.

Fighting the Selkie’s.

The Dullahan’s whip wrapping around Sean and dragging him across the rough terrain before the steps of Tech Duinn.

Weak Sean in a dark building with both swords drawn fighting a figure shrouded in darkness also wielding two swords.

Piles and piles of cars. Amethyst explosions.

Hugging Mom and Aiden after rescuing them from the Banshee.

Fanged men and women with glowing red eyes.

Faithful Tain ever at Sean’s side, mauling the Sluagh at the old mill.

The accursed Oak tree at Sean’s mom’s house exploding into flame.

Sean speaking to his sister at her tombstone in a dream.

Sean’s father lying on the ground bleeding, half naked.

Beheading the Kelpie.

Standing before an old stooped man while he stirred a cauldron.

Weak Sean gaining a momentary burst of Luck thanks to the Oak leaf and somehow against all odds stopping Donn the Red.

Dumbstruck by the rapid-fire visions, I staggered clasping my forehead.

Where was I?

I felt the clouds clearing, giving way to clarity. Then I was pushed down again.

I could feel Sean rising up, trying to regain control. But I put him back in his place.

All of this took place in my head with eyes closed tight.

When I opened them Brigid looked into my eyes. “Sean?”

“That was a close call,” I muttered. “You almost tricked me.”

Brigid’s grip tightened on her spear. She backed away from me. “Do not give in mortal. You are strong. Fight it. Your destiny is written in fire.”

In answer, I screamed at her. The bellow helped me regain control.

Brigid took the force of the shriek head on. The blast shot her through a window and I jumped into the air, following. With the fire at my back and my face cast in shadow, the light from my face came from my eyes glowing blood orange.

Brigit landed on her feet somehow. Celtic knots swirled around her spear.

I chuckled. “To hurt me is to hurt Sean.”

“I’ll beat you out of him.”

Her words cut through me like ice.

I frowned and unsheathed Fragarach. Leaping from the window I hit the trimmed grass underfoot and made to dash at her. The ground rumbled beneath my feet. A busload of dire boar blindsided me. I was lifted into the air, all the wind knocked out of me.

I hit the grass and rolled over and over. As I got to my feet a boulder of breathing bacon barreled towards me. Behind Torc Triath’s head sat Brigid.

If the boar did not skewer me with its tusks, she would.

It was all I could do to drop both swords and put my hands out, catching each tusk. I braced myself and Chaos aided me. Still, Torc pushed me. My sneakers left tracks of torn up grass and dirt as the boar gained speed, turning in a circle, pushing me back like a plow.

My back blasted into the stone wall of the temple. But Torc had been too eager and got his two tusks caught in the stone structure.

Hot pig breath washed over me as he snorted, trying to break free.

With yell Brigid hefted the spear at my heart. I shifted to the right as the third pointy object got stuck in the stone.

“Hey, I thought you were trying to batter me out of Sean.”

Before she could blast me with magic, I used Sean’s latent freerunning skills to leap from the tusk to the spear. The spear buckled like a diving board before sending me skyward. I fell into a triple backflip and untucked above Brigid. Claws extended from my fingers with an audible hiss.

I swiped at her head but she moved as fast as me. We traipsed atop the swine’s back trying to best each other with martial prowess. I scored a few hits that her armor absorbed and she landed several magical empowered blows.

I caught her with a kick to the gut. She sank to her knees. Her hair fell to one side exposing the fair skin of her neck.

Her head was mine for the taking.

I reached for my swords but then remembered they lay planted in the earth across the grounds. Oh well. My claws would not cut as clean, but my Queen would understand.

I raised my clawed left hand over my head for the kill stroke.

With one final tug, Torc Triath broke free from the wall, launching both Brigid and I off its back.

I backflipped, smug at my own reflexes until Brigid’s fire burning eyes came into view. She slugged me with a Wonder Woman punch. Again I tumbled. This time I came to rest mere inches from my swords. One more roll and I would have been severed by my own blades.

I shook the pain out along with the blood dripping from my mouth.

“I’m still here, princess fire.” I grabbed onto the sword hilts for support and got up.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to beat me out of Sea—”

Wham.

She uppercut me. Out of pure reflex my hands gripped the hilts of both swords. I tugged them out of the ground with me into the air. I flew through a stone wall destroying it like a one man demolition team. But the force of the hit carried me further still. I smashed through tree branches, skipped off the ground, blasted through bushes, until I fell headlong over the edge of a cliff face.

With nothing but air under me for several feet I saw that the cliff angled out eventually, becoming the slope of a very steep hill.

Maybe I would let Sean out so he could experience the pain and not me.