"Listen," said Hades, "I don't want another sacrifice. I have dead people crawling out of my ears, so here's the deal. My niece and nephew are visiting, and I need someone to keep an eye on them. You know, just kinda watch them, make sure they don't get into trouble, that sort of thing. They're only demi-gods, so they can be killed; and I don't want that, 'cause then Demeter will be on my case, and she can be a real bear."
Bridie couldn't believe her ears.
"So all you want from me is my services as a babysitter?" She asked, grinning when he nodded. "So I don't have to die?"
Hades shook his head. "Naw; just stick around long enough for me to get some work done around here, and I'll let you off. You can go back home." Hades left the small, cavelike room he'd brought her down to and returned with two small children; both with blond curls and big, sad blue eyes. "This is Felicity, my niece, and Honour, my nephew. Watch them close; they're sneaky." Hades turned to leave then thought better of it. He placed a hand on Bridie's shoulder. "One thing, though. Don't try to use your magic. Not even to keep them out of danger, or to keep them occupied; word has it that if you do use your powers, I have to send you to Tartarus. Sorry," he said, and Bridie felt that he meant it.
"It's okay," she assured him. "I've always been good with kids; these two shouldn't be any different, demi-gods or not."
Hades smiled and left, assured that his niece and nephew were in good hands; even if those hands did belong to a mortal woman not even eighteen.
Bridie turned to study the two children, placing her hands on her hips and trying to look stern.
"Now you heard your uncle; stay out of trouble, hear?"
The children nodded seriously, and Bridie grinned, holding out her hands to them, which they took.
"How about a game of hide-and-go-seek? Would you like that?"
Again they nodded.
"I'll count while you hide. Ready? Go!" Bridie said, covering her eyes with a hand but peeking through her fingers. She smiled as the little girl took her brother's hand, pulling him along with her. She recalled good days with Rohan as a child, and was grateful that she would be home soon.
"King Conchobar has taken ill, my queen; and those mystic knights Rohan and Deirdre are on the throne of Kells."
"Rohan? Are you sure of this, Torq?"
Torq bowed his head.
"As sure as I am that the sun will rise tomorrow, my queen. One cannot easily mistake the meaning of the crown that now sits atop Rohan's head."
Maeve studied the floor. Her eyes grew soft, moist with tears that she would never shed.
"Torq...you were there with the birth of my four children. You saw that sorceress Bridie; you know she is...was...my daughter. And you know how long I searched for my son among the children of Kells. My father took my Rohan from me...but there were so many other boys with that name in the village. It was impossible to find my son among them." Maeve turned her gaze to Torq, who averted his gaze to the floor. "You spoke to Bridie while you were in Rome. Did she say anything to you?"
Torq opened and closed his mouth...he couldn't bring himself to speak the truth.
"Torq..." Maeve warned.
"My queen," he said, bowing his head again. "Bridie told me that she and Rohan are siblings. That Mider also is her brother...this you knew. I felt it right that I tell her the story, since you deemed it neccesary to remove those memories from her mind when you left her at the inn; for her father to discover and take to the orphanage."
Maeve nodded. "Fin Varra fooled me well when I was younger. Had I known he was a fairy prince, I would not have had dealings with him. You know that is how Lugad came about...that demon's spawn. It is well that he stays with my sister; she is the only one who would have him." Maeve turned to study Torq. "And you; you will lead my armies into Kells castle. We will lay siege now, while those two children sit the throne, and take back what is mine. But I want Rohan spared; if he is my son, he will want what is his as well. To rule at my side; he will be a prince, and that station will give him the rank to marry Deirdre. That is what he has wanted all along, I've felt it. And now he will get what he wants."
Torq nodded and left the room.
"My queen," he said as he retreated, but the one thing on his mind was going to Kells and warning Rohan and the others.
"Felicity! Honour!" Bridie cried, wandering the corridors of the Underworld. She cautiously turned a corner; the children weren't there either. She'd been searching for over an hour. "Where have you gotten yourselves to?"
Bridie wished her voice didn't echo so; it made her frantic search far more difficult.
"Honour, Felicity! Come on; don't do this to me!" Bridie said; then figured out a way that might draw them out. "If you come out now, I won't tell your uncle how you've behaved. And he won't tell your mother! Please; if I don't keep you both out of trouble, I can't go home. And I want to go home, as soon as I'm able."
Still nothing.
"All right! I'll tell your uncle as soon as I find you and get you back to him! You'll be in so much trouble, I swear!"
Not a peep from either of them. Bridie snapped her fingers.
"Demeter! Goddess of the...". Oh, Lugh forbid! What was it Hades had told her Demeter was the goddess of? Oh, yeah...
"Goddess of the Harvest, your children are misbehaving. I call upon you to come and retrieve them before they do damage to something...or somebody!"
Bridie waited for the bolt of light and the figure to appear; but there was nothing. Then, as she turned around, she heard her name being called...but so weakly.
"Bridie!" Came the childish voice. Then a coughing.
"Bridie, help," cried Honour. Bridie turned and raced toward the little voices.
She put the brakes on fast as she came to the ravine. Great clouds of dust rose up, and she found herself looking down into a bottomless pit. She glanced to her right, and saw the children, holding tightly to a small narrow ledge several feet below the sharp drop of the cliff.
"Felicity! Honour...hang on! I'll help you!"
"Hurry," Felicity said, her fingers slipping as she tried to pull herself back up. Honour struggled a little to regain his footing on a small outcropping below them. "Please; we don't wanna die!"
Bridie took a deep breath; neither did she.
"You won't die," she whispered. "It's them or me," she said, raising her hands, focusing her thoughts. Two thin lines of blue shot from Bridie's fingers, lifting the two children from the point of death and placing them firmly on the ground. She knew there was no other way to save them, though she wished there had been. Bridie lowered her hands as her power faded into nothing again, gazing at the children, who brushed themselves off and looked at her sadly, sheepishly, as though they knew already what their foolishness had cost her.
Bridie turned at the whoosh of air, and narrowed her eyes against Hades' bright red glow. When she opened her eyes again, Hades stood before her, his eyes sad, his arms crossed over his chest.
He shook his head. "Bridie..."
"I know. But it had to be done."
Hades approached her slowly, touching her arm with one slender hand.
"Why? Why trade your life for theirs?"
Bridie glanced at the ground, then gazed deeply into Hades' eyes.
"It was their lives or mine...and I ran to the point."
As if that explained everything, Hades nodded, wrapping his arm over her shoulders, leading her away...she knew it was to Tartarus that she went now.
"No," he said, as if reading her thoughts, "not to Tartarus. You risked your life for others. That is a noble and very brave thing to do, especially when you know the consequences. It is an act that places you among the honored dead."
Bridie's brow furrowed as she studied Hades. "What does that mean?"
Hades smiled, hugging her a little.
"That means you get to go somewhere wonderful; among friends and family who have come before you. The place reserved for heroes; the Elysian Fields."
With a wave of his hand, the wall nearest them disappeared, replaced by a green field, wildflowers, people in bright clothing, singing and laughing and dancing their time away. The sky was blue, the clouds fluffy; the air warm and gently windy. Bridie closed her eyes as she felt the warmth of the sun on her face, then smiled as she opened them and gazed at Hades.
"I have done nothing to deserve this place, Hades. It's too beautiful."
"You saved my niece and nephew from certain death, Bridie, so I'll make this short. In return for that gift you gave me, I return it. A life for a life. If the one true love of your life should come to save you, he will find you here and you will be returned to him. No questions, no regrets. No adendums, no catches. He comes, you leave together and live your lives out in peace. That is my gift to you."
Bridie sighed and smiled, bowing her head slowly.
"Thank you, Hades. Will you...can you come and visit me where I am?"
He nodded. "Yes; and I will. As often as I can. It may be the perfect world in there, but perfection can grow tiresome."
Bridie nodded and began to enter the Elysian Fields; but Hades took her hand suddenly.
"Wait," he said. "Eurydice!" He called into the void. A sweet faced young woman appeared, poking her head out into the opening. Hades pushed Bridie gently forward. "Eurydice; watch over this girl for me. Be friends until your destiny is fulfilled."
Eurydice nodded, taking Bridie's hand and pulling her into the portal with her. Bridie waved at Hades as they disappeared into the Elysian Fields and the portal closed behind her. Hades grinned and returned her wave, glad that he had done some service to a mortal after all his years of...well...naughtiness.
"Hades, you fool and weakling. How dare you help that mortal!"
"Oh chill, Hera. She helped me; I owed her."
"You are a god! You owe nothing to any mortal!"
"Stop being such a big sis, big sis," he said, flopping down in a nice comfy throne. "She rescued two more of your grandkids, didn't she? I think she deserves some credit."
"Hmmph," was the reply, and Hades grinned again. Hera could be so incorrigable sometimes.
Angus woke up with a start. His head throbbed, his stomach hurt...he felt a dull ache in his chest that wouldn't go away.
"Angus! There you are," said Rohan. "I'm afraid I've got some bad news."
Angus stood shakily, his hand covering his chest, fingers rubbing at the spot just over his heart.
"Bridie's dead, isn't she," he said, more of a statement than a question. Rohan nodded, removing the crown from his head and rubbing the gold binding. "I knew, Rohan, somehow I felt her slip away."
Rohan's heart was in his throat, tears coming to his eyes as he tried to speak.
"I...I'm sorry, Angus," he said, biting his lip. "I wish we could've saved her...I wish..."
Angus nodded, sighing shakily.
"Me too." He said, and Rohan recalled his last words to Bridie, knowing that was what Angus was thinking of too.
"Come here," Rohan said softly, dropping the crown to the grass at his feet. Angus lost it then, his soft sobbing becoming real tears as he turned his face onto Rohan's shoulder and wept. Rohan's own eyes overflowed as he tried to comfort his friend, knowing all the same it would be a long time before the pain of Bridie's death would be replaced by the dull ache of a sorrowful past. Angus would never be the same. None of them would be the same.
"Although Bridie's death is a terrible tragedy," Fin Varra said softly at the gathering that night in Kells Castle, "her life was a great gift to all those who knew her. We were blessed to have known her as well as we did...to have loved her so deeply."
The knights stood in a circle around the table, hands joined, as Conchobar and Cathbad stared into the distance, at nothing. All thoughts of a final defeat of Maeve had gone into dust; their thoughts now were focused on remembering Bridie and celebrating her life.
Rohan glanced at Deirdre, and she laid her head softly against his arm, her tears flowing silently down her pale cheeks. Angus gazed at the floor; or so it appeared until one realized that his eyes were closed, and that the floor itself was growing quite damp with his own tears. Rohan had never seen Cathbad so shaken as he appeared this night; his hands trembled as he lit the candles and performed the incantations that would send word to Bridie of their love and whisper their final farewells in her ears.
"Hey, what are you doing in here!?" Came a startled cry from a guard in the hall. Rohan drew his sword halfway from its sheath; Angus drew Bridie's sword from the sheath at his belt. He would wield it with more care and precision than he wielded his mystic weapon, Rohan knew. The knights turned...
To see Torq enter the throneroom. He fell to his knees before Rohan, not noticing that the crown was back on Conchobar's head, nor that Conchobar was well and back on the throne.
"Maeve is preparing to launch a full scale attack against Kells, King Rohan," he said. "I've come to warn you; but she sends only half her troops now because she thinks you weak; Kells castle will fall unless you are better armed, my king."
Rohan glanced down at Torq, replacing his weapon and helping the Temran general to his feet. Angus glared at Torq, but also sheathed his sword, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well," Rohan said, still playing king as he reached a hand behind him and took the crown Conchobar passed to him, placing it back on top of his curls before Torq knew it was gone. "Have you brought us an army or just yourself and your news, Torq?"
Torq motioned Rohan to the window, pointing downward into the courtyard.
"My soldiers, ready for you to command, my king." Torq said. "They will fight for you, as I've ordered. These men were loyal to me long before they were loyal to Temra."
Rohan thought it right; the soldiers wore yellow Kells cloaks over their Temran armor. He nodded.
"All right. I'll believe you for now. But why help us now?"
"It is only for this battle. My respect will be paid to Bridie. She saved my worthless hide; I shall do the same for her brother. And her friends," he added, looking especially at Angus, who dropped his arms to his sides.
Rohan nodded.
"Commander Uaan," he said, waving the man to his side, "go to our troops, ready them for battle. But we stick to the plan as we would have should the battle have come today. We'll make Bridie proud of us, lads, count on it. For Kells!" He cried, turning and racing out the door, forgetting he wore the crown.
"And for Bridie!" Added Torq, following Rohan and the knights. Conchobar stood, gazing at Cathbad with a stupid grin on his face.
"He took my crown," he whined, pointing at Rohan. Cathbad merely grinned.
Though the Temran armies tried their worst, Kells defeated them and won the day. Maeve was defeated the worst of all, her powers gone completely by the time dusk fell over the battlefield. Weakened and alone, abandoned by her soldiers and Torq, King Conchobar decided to banish her from the island, sending her far away, so that if ever her powers did return, she would not be a threat to his kingdom. He sent Angus and Pyre to accompany Maeve to her new home; and Rohan said goodbye to Maeve, calling her mother for the first time in his life.
Little did he know that he would be seeing her again so soon; in fact, only eight months passed when she again posed a threat to Kells; but that is another story.
Ivar never did get his chalice back, though the castle of Temra was searched from top to bottom for the silver, jewel-studded goblet. Only Rohan, Deirdre, Angus, and Fin Varra knew who might have taken it; and they hoped to Dagda they were wrong.
