My Voice for My Heart

Chapter 27: Just this once...

Aohdan

Danger, struggle...Sunlight on the water. Food beneath the surface. Green eyes dancing with happiness. Wide eyes full of fear. Splashing.

Something under the sand. I was suffocating. I dug and clawed, pulling and pushing my way to consciousness. I want to hide. I want to fly away. My reflection in the water. Eyes flashing like fire.

Sounds of fear and agitation. Flapping my wings against the surface. I can't fly away.

I won't fly away.

Green eyes meeting mine.

My head went under the water and I held my breath. I emerged from the lake, and saw Keela on the shore. A man, a man who was about to take his last breath, held her arms, pulling her toward the forest. She struggled. I swam for shore, legs kicking, arms slicing through the water. I heard my brothers behind me. The sounds of squawking and splashing, wings slapping against the waves.

My head dipped below the surface as I jettisoned forward and I heard a voice, a whisper under the water, a half-hearted sigh, "Just this once..."

Keela saw me and her struggle renewed. The man was too intent on his quarry. Her skirt caught around her legs and she went down. I saw the man tumble after her, and seeing his advantage, he began to paw at her. My mind became a haze of red. I saw her small hand pull and hit, and then my hands were on him, lifting him off of her and tossing him like he weighed nothing.

This must be what Athol and Dand felt like.

The man flipped onto his back, baring his teeth. He jumped to his feet and rushed me, his arms wrapping around my torso and wrestling me to the ground. But he was old and soft. The breath huffed out of him when my fist connected with his back. I hit him low, right above his hip and he curled to the side. I pushed at his shoulder, and jumped up, landing a kick against his ribs.

He moaned, turning and trying to shield himself from my blows, but I was not feeling merciful. This man represented everything that had been taken from us, everything that was still being taken from us.

I was so entirely focus on destroying him, I didn't see that he was positioning himself to get at me from another angle. He swept a foot behind my legs and I lost my balance, falling down hard. The breath was knocked out of my body, and the next thing I knew, he had a dagger shoved against my throat, pressing it as he gripped my hair, his face inches from my own and his fetid breath washing over me.

"Not such a hero now, are you?" he asked.

I saw a blur of green and gold, and then he was knocked away from me. Keela dove at him, heedless of her own safety. They rolled, but she was small, and he was able to maneuver her body under his. I leapt to my feet, but in the seconds it took me to get to them, he had lifted her up, shaken her, and slammed her body into the ground. I saw her head shake back and forth and then strike the ground with such force, I could hear the sound from where I stood.

Whatever it was inside of me that kept me anchored and human disappeared in that instant. I was only anger, only rage. I was not Aohdan. I was not a musician, or a lord. I was baser than that, more primal.

I heard a roar, and Ciaran was there. Lifting the man much like I had, but instead of throwing him, he pulled his fist back and slammed it into the man's face. Again, and again.

I felt my knees give way and I crawled to Keela. My hands roamed her face, her body, looking for injuries I could fix, hurts I could mend. I could see nothing.

I heard splashing and turned. One after another, my brothers transformed before my eyes and rushed from the lake. Athol and Dand ran to Ciaran who continued his brutal punishment, but the darkness in their eyes was nothing compared to the look I saw in Balthair's as he strode toward them, breathless and soaked to the skin.

Dand held up the man whose head lolled from side to side. Blood flowed freely from the cuts covering his face, but he was still conscious, still aware.

"Let me look at her," a quiet voice said.

I met Iasan's blue eyes. I was kneeling, but when I saw the fear in his eyes, I fell back, catching myself on my hands.

"Is she alive?" I asked in a voice I didn't recognize.

Iasan put his face to her mouth, his head turning to watch her chest. He nodded shortly, "Yes."


I felt, rather than saw Rab, Finn, and Coíseam arrive next to us.

Iasan looked up, his eyes widening. "Balthair!"

We followed his gaze. Balthair had taken the knife from the man and held it in a white-knuckled grip.

"I will protect her," Balthair said, meeting all of our gazes. I saw what he meant to do and I was glad. I would have done the same thing, and part of me was jealous that he would be the one to act.

The man's eyes widened. Just moments ago he'd been nearly senseless, but now he shook his head vigorously, some part of him becoming aware of his fate.

Balthair thrust the knife forward. I saw the blood and heard the man's quick gasp and gurgle. Dand lowered him ground, but then he was forgotten. My brothers surrounded us, all of them barking questions at Iasan. Ciaran fell to his knees where he stood, grabbing his hair and watching us with a tortured expression.

"She's alive," Iasan repeated over and over.

"For how long?"

"Are you sure?"

Balthair was silent. I reached forward, taking Keela's gnarled and swollen hand in my own and brought it to my lips, kissing it gently. I rested it in my lap, gently strumming my fingers along her wrist as if she was my instrument.

Wake up, I silently begged, wake up.