So I did listen to some music for this chapter and I came across one that inspired the, well, you'll figure out which part I'm referring to. Feel free to listen to it. I think it's called, "How the Mighty Have Fallen" by Epikus.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Dubh rushed quickly through the forest to get to The Hangman's Tree. He'd completely forgotten all about helping Olena this morning.
"Don't you mean Cahira?" a voice in his head asked, making the wolf pause. "She's not your sister."
Dubh sighed and sat on his rump. "Oh yeah."
"Why didn't you tell Mother the truth about her?"
"I was going to, but then I realized this truce that Lilly has planned could actually work. They'd obviously want to make a trade between Cahira and Olena. I don't want that."
"Why not? Don't you want your sister to come home?"
"It's not like I've met Olena. And I don't want Cahira taken from us. She's my little bean."
"I don't blame you," Mallacht chuckled. "Lilly has the most amazing technology in her head! I imagine it's the same for Cahira."
Dubh giggled before getting back on his paws and trotting forward. "I don't think I'll ever understand your obsession with that girl, but...as my counterpart, I accept that about you."
"Oh come on! Even during that whole interaction when we first took Cahira? You didn't feel an inkling of attraction?!"
"Why? You were the one doing all the talking with your...remote access contraption."
Mallacht groaned, then he chuckled softly. "And could anyone tell the difference? No."
"How could they? Only I knew you existed." As Dubh exited the tree line and gazed across the red and purple grass, he spotted Cahira with her friends from the sleepover. He grinned and picked up the pace. "So, who won the battle between Cerberus and Arthur?" Dubh asked.
"Rose, actually. She interfered."
"Ha! Is she smitten with Arthur now?"
"That seems to be the case. But there's about to be another development."
"Hmm? What's that?"
"Apparently Cerberus will find his twin flame at the get together Arthur and Lilly are having."
Dubh burst out laughing. "Oh goodness!" he snickered. "Who is it?"
"I don't know. Lilly's seer eye is still broken and the shroud of dark magic isn't helping, but I'll figure out a work around. I always do."
"Well, thanks for the update, but I'm about to go do something wicked and spontaneous," Dubh sighed happily.
"Why?" Mallacht chuckled.
"Because I can," Dubh simply replied with a shrug.
"Good answer!" Mallacht barked with laughter. "Whatcha gonna do?"
"Get Cahira to tell me everything she knows." When Dubh finally got to the grouping of children, he gave a big wolfish smile. "Hello, children," he chirped.
"Hello, Mr. Dubh," the kids all said in unison.
"Are you ready for your escort back to the castle?"
The kids exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, can we use the carriage? Please?" one of them begged.
Dubh rolled his eyes and sighed playfully before giving them a mischievous grin. "Oh alriiight," he chuckled. "Olena, would you mind summoning the carriage? The twelve seater should do it."
Cahira blinked a few times before nodding. "Okay," she said before walking away to a round space with a sort of console by it.
She tugged on part of her green sundress, a nervous tick that Dubh knew was a characteristic of Cahira. Dubh cocked his head as he watched her press a button on the console, then a highly decorated and large twelve seater tram way carriage, painted in colors of gold and green and carvings of old Atlantean runes and people adorning the exterior, synthesized into existence on the circular area. Dubh padded over to the leather straps and metal poles at the front, then he placed himself in position between the poles.
"Safety first, children! Make sure your seat straps secure themselves properly!" Dubh announced before looking at the redheaded anamoly. "Are you okay?" he asked Cahira as the straps wrapped themselves around his body.
While the kids screamed with glee and clambered into the carriage, Cahira nodded with a small smile. "Yes, Adelfós," she replied. [Brother.]
Dubh whined a little before reaching his large head over and licking her cheek. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" he offered gently.
The little girl nodded. "Yes," she said glumly.
Dubh snatched part of her dress in his teeth and lifted her up to climb on his back. "Just sit with me and let's talk, okay?"
Cahira sighed and settled behind the back of his head. "Okay."
Dubh started pulling the carriage forward and began to trot like a horse down the blue paved pathway that connected to the round platform. The kids screeched happily and began talking amongst themselves, making Dubh giggle. "Well, at least they won't be listening to us. Now please, Adelfí...what troubles you?" [Sister...]
Cahira huffed while clinging to Dubh's neck. "I found out some stuff," she replied.
"Oh? What kind of stuff?"
"Life altering stuff," she answered sadly.
"Aww," Dubh said with a tsk. "Anything I can help with?"
"I don't think so."
"Oh c'mon! Tell me! I'm dying to know!" he pleaded happily.
"I can't," Cahira whined sadly.
Dubh sighed and lowered his head. "But I'm your brother. It's my job to protect and help you. I can't do my job if I'm not, you know, in the know."
Dubh flicked his ears as he waited for Cahira to respond. After some time, he opened his mouth to speak but then she asked, "would you still feel the same way about me if I wasn't your sister?"
Dubh stopped in his tracks, staring ahead at the road. He merely paused for dramatic effect, to ensure that Cahira would be none the wiser that he'd already found out this information. "Where is this going, Olena?" he asked in a calm but questioning voice.
"Answer the question," she hissed.
"What difference does it make? I was present at your birth and I've helped raise and tutor you. You will always be my sister."
Cahira sniffed and clung even tighter to Dubh. "Oh Dubh..." she cried. "What will Mommy say?"
He turned his head back to nuzzle her leg. "Olena, sweetheart, I don't underst-"
"My name isn't Olena, it's Cahira," she sobbed.
Dubh frowned before bowing his head. "I see. And Mother doesn't know?"
"No."
"So Apate lied to us, huh?" he surmised before lifting his head. "Now that's just rude."
"Is she alright?" a kid asked from the carriage.
Dubh turned his head again to look at the other children. "Yes, she's fine! Apologies for the hold up! Let's pick up the pace!" he said in a loud but apologetic voice. He looked forward and began jogging. "Hang on, Cahira!"
Cahira raised her head and gripped his fur. "What are you doing?"
"Making it fun!" he laughed as he picked up speed.
The kids began squealing and laughing in delight, Dubh cackling loudly as he ran. Cahira squawked and hung on tightly while giggling. The wheels squeaked as Dubh raced along the road, the wind rushing past them.
"Weeeeeeee!" some kids yelled happily.
As the excited sounds filled Dubh's ears, he wondered just how fast he could go without endangering the kids. They entered the forest and Dubh listened to the simulated sounds of wildlife. It was a shame that the island didn't have any animals. Then again, many parts of the island were locked away from the clutches of Apate and her army of sorcerers, scoundrels and spies. Dubh found it very strange that the island was trying to protect itself from the influence of dark magic. Perhaps this Ceq machine was the mastermind behind all of the controls and The Hangman's Tree was her housing. As he panted, he silently congratulated Cahira on her cleverness and deceit. She did a fantastic job hiding her true self, but it was too bad Cahira wasn't aware that he could see everything through Lilly's eyes.
Still, his little sister deserved a reward and he would surely strive to gift her something worthy of her talents.
After running for a few miles, Dubh was a little thirsty and he had to stop to catch his breath. "Woo!" he howled. "That was fun!"
Cahira slipped off his body and he shook his body, the straps falling slack before he slicked away from the carriage rails. Dubh then went to a nearby stream and began drinking from it. Before he could get his fill, however, the kids were all clambering around him and jumping in the water.
"Hahaha!" Dubh barked. "Alright, but just for a few minutes. We don't want your parents getting worried if we're late getting back."
"Okay!" the kids announced and Dubh went back to drinking from the stream.
Once he felt refreshed, he watched the kids playing and splashing through the water, the sounds of giggling and joyful squealing filling the air. Dubh looked up at the clear blue sky with the grin, the sun shining like a thousand fires in the east.
"What a beautiful summer's day," Mallacht said in Dubh's head.
"Heh, truly," Dubh muttered under his breath. "How is the construction of Hell inside Lilly's mind going?"
"Oh, it's going great! I've added such wonderful things to my Saint Denis! I've even opened up some puzzle factories!"
Dubh raised a brow. "Puzzle factories?" he asked inside his mind.
"Yeah," Mallacht replied. "I got the idea when Lilly was cursed with the wine. Man, she had some crazy visions! Like that mangled puppet that looked like a crazed wolf woman? Oh! Her mind is just so full of wicked, evil things!"
"Hm," Dubh said. "That vision where all those souls invaded her...was there a particular reason why she saw that?"
"Rose and her got their point of views mixed up. I suspect it was the drugs in the wine that caused that."
"And O'Callaghan?"
Mallacht laughed. "She made contact with Leto, Artemis and Apollo."
"Dubh?"
The black wolf jerked his head in Cahira's direction. "Yes?" he asked sweetly.
Cahira was standing in the stream, her shoes in one hand and the other hand was pointing at something behind him. "There's a crow in that tree."
Dubh looked at the tree in question, and sure enough, there was a single crow on one of the branches. It cawed several times and the black wolf hummed with intrigue. "That's strange. We don't have animals on the island," he said.
"Huh." She walked closer to the tree. "Then how did it get in?" Another crow flew in and landed on a branch above the other one, flapping its wings furiously and cawing. "Oh look, another one!"
The other kids stopped what they were doing and awed at the birds, then they cheered when a few more showed up and perched on the same tree. Dubh narrowed his eyes, feeling quite suspicious. He took a step back as a flock appeared in the sky and flew down to attach themselves to nearby trees. As they all began cawing loudly and ruffling their feathers, he looked around the area.
"The Morrigan," Mallacht growled. "Is this an attack?"
Dubh sniffed the air a few times, trying to catch any foreign scents. A few branches snapped further into the vast, green forest and he pointed his nose in the sound's direction. As the wind began to whirl, Dubh inhaled deeply through his snout and his eyes went wide when he caught an unfamiliar smell.
"Dubh, who is it?"
"The Morrigan isn't attacking, she's warning us!" Dubh hissed. "Kids," he said calmly as he turned to them. "We need to leave. Get in the carriage."
More sounds of twigs and branches snapping drew the kids' attention and they all quickly raced back towards the vehicle. Dubh counted all eight children and made sure they were fastened in before rushing to his station at the front.
"What is it, Mr. Dubh?" a little boy of six asked fearfully.
"Don't know but we're not sticking around to find out," he said as he felt his straps surround him. "It's gonna get bumpy so-."
A loud, haunting screech echoed throughout the woods and Dubh gaped at what he saw coming. The kids screamed and he charged full speed ahead down the road. The wheels shrieked and the kids cried in fear as he gave it all he had in his running.
"What the hell was that thing?!" Mallacht bellowed in shock.
"I don't know! It looked like a fairy from Hell!" Dubh replied as he let out a loud howl. "I gotta get the word out or we're fucked!"
A sharp turn was coming up fast and Dubh tensed. "Hang on, kids!" he shouted as he made the turn.
Dubh strained as he felt the carriage tugging on him, the kids wailing in fright when it almost tipped on its side. He clawed into the pavement with all his might to get a grip and he leaped forward, racing faster than even he thought possible. Dubh continued to howl to try and alert anyone in the area that they were in trouble.
"It's coming!" someone shrieked.
The kids cried even louder and Dubh could hear the inhumane screams of the dark creature chasing them.
"Oh my god! We're gonna die!"
"Oh shut up, we're not gonna die!" Cahira shouted. "My brother's got it handled!"
"How is he handling it?! Clearly we can't outrun that thing!"
"Mallacht, can you help on your end?" Dubh asked as his legs pumped faster.
"I don't know! Can you get another look at it so I can scan it?"
Dubh glanced to the side and yelped when he saw giant black tree roots coming for him. They crashed into him and he and the carriage went flying. The straps released themselves from his form and he collided into a grouping of trees on the side of the road. Ringing sounded in his ears and his vision blurred as he struggled to recover. He shook his head and blinked a few times before looking for the carriage.
It had smashed into a ditch, laying on its side and he ran towards it. When Dubh got around it to investigate the wails and screams of the children, he was shocked to find they were all encased in a magic shield of brown, blue and green colors.
"Are you all okay?" he panted.
"No!" a child screamed.
"I think I hurt my head," another child whined as blood trickled from her forehead.
Dubh counted the children but only saw six. "Where's Vensi and Olena?" he asked in a panicked voice.
"The fairy thing took Vensi and Olena went after them!"
"Shit," he said before glancing into the forest. "Remain calm and stay in the carriage," he stated before running into the tree line.
"No! Don't leave us!"
Dubh had to find Cahira fast. He sniffed the air as he ran to track her scent and he picked it up quickly, hearing the sounds of a struggle up ahead. When he came across the missing children, his eyes went wide at what he was seeing. Vensi was unconscious and inside a shield while Cahira, in her metal leaf wolf form, was battling with a horrendous looking tree fairy made of dark magic, wood and metal. He charged without hesitation and tackled the fairy, snarling and growling as his teeth gnawed on her arm. The fairy screeched and scratched him with her sharp claws but Dubh refused to let go. Black tree roots surrounded them and Cahira screamed when one of them stabbed her stomach. As her blood spilled on the ground, Dubh let go of the fairy and attacked the roots instead.
"Get in the shield!" Dubh yelled before chomping on a root and breaking it.
Cahira hurried inside her little shield, hovering over Vensi to protect him. More fairies and roots formed around them and unanimously attacked both the shield and Dubh.
"Dubh!" Cahira cried as the roots banged on her multicolored shield.
"Help me, Mallacht!" Dubh shouted in his head as he was attacked on all sides.
"Go for their chests! It's their weak spot!"
Dubh's teeth tore through wood and metal and when another fairy charged him, he bite down on her shoulder hard before ripping it apart. Black goo spurted and oozed from the fairy as she shrieked. Before Dubh could get a good look at what was inside, a bright light shined, blinding Dubh's vision for a moment. A white silhouette of a woman with wings and holding a staff smacked one of the fairies in the head with the weapon, sending the creature flailing into the air. The woman kicked another fairy away, grabbed Dubh and threw him out of the circle of roots and fairies. He landed a ways away on his feet and watched in amazement as the unknown woman battled with the creatures.
She shoved her staff into the ground and the lines of a Celtic shield knot appeared in the ground as white flames erupted from them. The next thing Dubh knew, an explosion of white light filled the area and the fairies went screeching and flying away while the black roots turned back into brown ones and slithered back into the earth. He watched the fairies disappear while screaming bloody murder and he blinked as the light faded from the woman. Dubh's eyes widened when he recognized who it was.
"Macha?!"