The Last Sídhe

11 - A Lasting Flame

"Aeden."

My whiskers as something brushed against them. There was a faint tugging sensation at the side of my neck, but I didn't have the strength to open my eyes. My muscles felt heavy, as if all the shivering energy that I usually held had drained away. I hardly even felt the pain anymore. Which was, in all honesty, quite nice.

"Wake up, you eejit."

The voice, rough and precise, pulled at memories I couldn't grasp. My mind drifted, and I slipped back toward the comforting darkness of sleep.

"I said wake up!"

There was no gentle tug that time. A hand smacked the side of my face, sending a dull flash of pain through my head. I whined and tried to push it away, but my legs wouldn't move. Slowly, reluctantly, I summoned the energy to open my eyes.

Maeve glared back.

The entire world seemed to jerk. I shifted my paws, scrambling to get up, but my body failed me yet again. I slumped back to the ground, wrinkling my snout at the scent of my own blood. It was stronger than before.

"Don't move too much, you dúra. You lost a lot of blood," Maeve growled, her tawny eyes flickering to my middle. "Go back to being human. We need to talk."

Some part of me was functional enough to oblige. I slipped into the form of a person, staring at her all the while. She seemed real. Her body was solid. The spark in her eyes was the same.

"Maeve?" I whispered, her name cracking across my tongue. That dreadful surge of guilt returned in a nauseating flood. She looked perfect, but I could only see her body sprawled against the bottom of that cliff. "I'm... how...?"

"I'm still dead, eejit. Ever heard of spirits?" She sat back and folded her arms, her lips twisted into a scowl.

The guilt wrenched itself to the front of my mind, shattering the careful walls of logic I'd built to keep it contained. Words fumbled their way up my throat and past my lips, unable to be stopped. "I... Look, Mae, I'm sorry. I can't... I know there's nothing I can say to make it righ—"

"Then shut up," she interrupted. Fire danced in her tawny eyes, lighting their orange-brown with that soft gold I remembered. "It's nice that you have some ghost of a conscience, but you said yourself that apologies can't change anything. You still killed me. That hurt my feelings a wee bit, you know."

"I-I had to..." The excuse crumbled in my mouth. I closed my eyes, pain flashing white-hot through my arm and my middle. "I thought it was the only way."

"Aye," she growled, bending closer. "But it wasn't. You stole my choice, and then you stole my life. I'm not going to forgive you for that."

The ground became very interesting. "I never expected you to."

"You'd better not. But anyways... if you die, then I really did get killed for nothing. So I'm going to help you." She brushed a strand of auburn hair behind one ear, and then reached toward my throat. I flinched as her fingers brushed against my skin, strangely real and warm.

The Maeve's hand reached the necklace. I'd nearly forgotten it was there, tied loosely around my neck. The moment she touched the pendant, warmth spread through me, chasing away the cold dragging at my mind.

"I used to think fire came only from the sun," Maeve murmured, concentrating upon the necklace. "But there was always some inside me. Our souls are made of flame, Aeden."

Slowly, she brought her other hand up and prodded my forehead. A stronger wave of heat seared through my veins, concentrating around my middle. The pain faded; the cool darkness lapping at my focus vanished entirely. I felt the pendant grow warm, burning like an ember against my skin.

"We're all born with fire. I'm going to use yours." Her eyes bored into me. "To put it simply, your soul is going to fuel you for the next few hours. The wounds won't matter, but you can still die, so don't get cocky. And you will die at some point, once your life's flame is exhausted. They don't last very long when used like this."

"Since when did you figure all of this out?" I asked, finding the energy to look down at my body. The gash in my stomach was still there, but it wasn't bleeding. Nor was my arm or my side.

Maeve rolled her eyes. "Since I died. You get to see things you couldn't before when you're a spirit. Now get up. It doesn't matter what you should have done. You killed me, so make sure it was for a good reason."

I'm sorry tripped across my tongue again, but I couldn't muster the will to let the words free. They could change nothing. I knew that. I'd told that to her myself. It was hypocritical to say such a thing now.

"Anything for you, Mae," I croaked instead. Drawing from the heat coursing through me, I pulled my legs closer and stood up. Maeve followed, her arms still tightly folded.

"Whatever. That mountain"—she jabbed a finger north, at one of the more jagged peaks—"is where the Críoch is. You ran pretty far last night."

"You were watching?"

"Yes, you eejit. I've been following you around because I can't move on yet, and apparently there's nothing better for me to do than listen to you talk to yourself." She huffed. "Go. Talking to you like this takes a lot of energy, and I'm already using enough of it to keep you from bleeding out."

I blinked. "Thank you."

"You're fecking welcome. Now git. I'll hang around, but you won't be able to see me. And if you need me... I probably won't come." Maeve raised one hand with a sardonic grin. "Bye. Don't die until you destroy the Críoch, or I'll follow you to hell and kill you myself."

With that, she vanished. There was no sound or flash of light; she was simply gone. The rustling of the forest was the only sound that remained.

I shook my head with a sharp jerk, collecting my scattered thoughts. There were plenty of legends of spirits, but I'd never believed them. Not until now.

"Alright," I said to the empty air, self-consciously tugging at the hem of my shirt. I hadn't gone insane, after all: the pain really had faded, and the necklace's pendant was still burning my throat.

Maeve had said something about my soul fueling my body, and that I didn't have much time. That much wasn't a surprise—I wasn't expecting to survive this, nor did I deserve to. I just wanted revenge.

With that comforting thought, I shifted into a wolf and sprinted in the direction she'd indicated. Now that I'd regained my bearings, I knew where I was. Maeve had said half an hour. If I ran extra fast, I could prove her wrong and make it in twenty minutes.

All I had to do was hope that this flame of mine would last.