The circle spread far back to the edge of rocks surrounding the altar stone. It was time to take Una's heart and to feed the child that will bring down Wessex. Wilona stood there calling forth the spirits to enter her and then into Una.
"I endeavor to seek the dark lord's help!" She called out to the circle, and they began to repeat her.
Suddenly Wilona felt consumed with energy, and she began to speak in an unknown tongue of the living world. While she said in dark languages, Alaric prayed.
"May God guide you. Please join our father and mother in heaven. May the Lord bless your tortured and broken soul. I pray that you find peace now. I commend you for your willingness to save Una, but in the end, she couldn't be." Alaric cried as he prayed, holding her in his arms.
Alaric wept as he cut the bindings from Ingrid's hands and legs. He could not save her. She had been gone for too long. It was like his mother when she died from an illness. Alaric began to heal so he would know what to do. And in the end, he could not save his sister. He was as helpless as when they took his father's head.
Wilona began to fall into a deep trance with the blood of Una in her veins and the darkness of Samhain approaching its peak. Wilona took off her black cloak, revealing the bump of her child in her womb. The torches around them began to dim, and the air from the sea stopped. It frightened everyone, including Alaric, who looked up and watched as everything paused. The wind, the birds, the chirpings of insects. It was a silence he had heard like no other. He wondered what kind of demon Wilona had conjured up. He knelt his sister down and ran as fast as he could to Wilona, breaking through the circle.
"Una!" Alaric cried out to her.
At this very moment, Wilona held her dagger high in the air and, as hard as she could, hurdled it down towards Una.
"What!" Wilona screamed as Una grabbed her hands before the blade could pierce her.
"Ahh!" Wilona let out a blood-curdling scream as Una crushed the bones in her wrists.
Alaric stared as the blade fell across the rock and making a high pitch ding as it hit. The torches blew with a fury of fire, and the circle screamed in fright. They had never conjured something of this power.
"Una!?" Alaric said breathlessly as Wilona sunk to her knees, crying out in pain.
"You bitch!" She cried as Una slowly rose with angry wolf eyes and a grin on her face.
Suddenly one of the men jumped to the dagger and tried to attack Una. Una pulled it out of his hand as quickly as stealing out of a child's hand. He trembled in fear at her strength. Before he could beg for his life, Una slashed his throat. He gargled and choked on his own blood and fell as his life left him. Alaric could not move. He was frozen at Una's might. How did she wake up after she had been drugged?
Another man tried to come and choke Una. Even with her slashed wrists, she grabbed his neck and broke his windpipe. He fell to the cold earth and was strangled to death.
"Wilona," Una spoke, but it was unlike anything Alaric had ever heard come out of Una.
She slid herself off of the rock and gazed at the frightened group.
"I see you all," Una said with a laugh.
"Each one of you shall die within a fortnight if you leave this circle." Una seethed.
She gazed down at the man choking to death.
"That was for my daughter Ingrid."
Alaric's eyes shot open as wide as they could. How did she know of Ingrid? Then Una looked at the man she slashed open.
"This was for my daughter Una." Una hissed.
She bent down, grabbed Wilona by the hair, and picked her up off the ground with one arm.
"Ahh!" Wilona screamed in pain.
Una slammed her down on the alter and pressed her hand into Wilona's neck.
"You think you are a Goddess on earth. Oh, Wilona, you are a fool." Una laughed with a dark tone.
"We laugh at you from beyond. You are nothing to us. You do not even exist. You are a speck of dust that floats aimlessly until it lands in someone's eyes to irritate them. You have landed in my eye, and I have had quite enough."
"Who...who are you!?" Wilona screamed as she tried to pull Una's hand away, but her bones splintered more.
"You wanted Rudiobus to come forth, didn't you? He would never. Do you really think he would come forward for an insignificant speck? Do you think he owes you for sacrifice? You have been sacrificing to simple spirits, Wilona. Not Gods, you oaf." Una laughed as she pressed harder into her neck.
"You see, he tells me you wanted to win a war, but you have created a larger war in which you cannot win. You have created a war against me, Arawn, the lord of the Dammed, who oversees the souls denied Christian paradise and who is a master of the hunt, not only in the wild but eternally for souls of the impure, souls like yours." Una laughed maniacally.
Alaric knew this was not Una. Something had taken hold of her at the moment before she was to be gutted.
"Have mercy!" Wilona cried out.
"You didn't have mercy when you killed for nothing. My daughter Una is not like you. She means everything to me, and you mean to take her away. I have guarded Una her entire life. As a child, a rat tried to bite and infect her with the plague. I came as a cat and killed it. When she was a toddler, a man tried to kidnap her. I came like a dog and bit his neck open until he bled to death. When she was a child, her mother tried to get her into the same dark arts as the pendragons. I came as a white wolf, an omen of death to come and as a warning. Your late sister was Una's mother, and You mean to kill your own niece."
Wilona's eyes filled with tears, and she became distraught.
"I was the original pendragon on earth. My decedents have disgraced my name and slandered it. I knew Una's soul was calling me since her birth, and for a good reason. Una has been the only pendragon descendant who has never slandered me, and for this, I am eternally her guide, and you will never win against her. For years, I kept anyone away who would do her harm, and for those that do, I smite them. Una calls it a curse when it is only me guiding her away from the path of true darkness. I am her intuition. I am her visions of the future. If you hurt Una, you hurt me. If you have tried to kill Una, you have tried to kill me. I am her guardian angel from beyond the veil."
"I meant no harm! I did not know she is of my blood!" Wilona cried out.
"You lie, Wilona. You wanted to be the only pendragon left to rule this world. I can read your thoughts. You wish to kill your father after you kill Gareth. Am I not correct? I already told you, you can never win against Una. Your Gods are shit under my boots. They tremble in fear when I approach. Your womb is cursed to weaken this kingdom, but this is a part of Una's kingdom too. Because you have tried to take away my daughter, I will take away your only power to reign." Una laughed as she placed her other hand on Wilona's belly.
"You are unfit to carry this soul. You stole it, the strongest, most valiant soul, and had it put in your womb. I curse your womb black, and the soul of that child will be transferred to Una as soon as she conceives. The vessel here will rot out of your womb, and you will never be able to have another child to curse. This child needs a mother like Una. Your Gods agree with me. Can you not see them? They are surrounding you, laughing. You could see them if you were a true Goddess. If anyone is remotely as close to a Goddess, it is Una Elisedd of Snowdon from the great land of Wealas. You will be her slave now. She will be waking up in a few hours, and I will allow her to kill you. Your spirits can't harm her." Una laughed.
"No, please! Have mercy!" Wilona begged.
"How could I have mercy for a woman who would have me killed. You cannot kill a God, but I can kill you." Una smiled.
"No, I didn't mean to harm Una's body. I just wanted her power. Are you not a merciful God?"
"This is not Una's body. You drank the blood of a God. That is why you felt so alive."
Wilona froze. She could barely breathe.
"You've taken her form?!" Wilona shouted, remembering that this God was a shapeshifter.
"Alaric drugged and hid her for her own protection. She is safe away from you. Alaric was aware that your men were going to search for her. I commend Alaric's effort for hiding her in her wardrobe, a most excellent place. When Alaric left, I took her form and laid in her bed, acting as Una. Your halfwitted men took the bait. I would not let them take my daughter had had her slain. I am in debt to Alaric for him protecting her. His noble acts shall not go unforgotten. He shall plant the seed in Una's womb that will grow into the God of this world, with his mother being the Goddess to reign and once again restore the good name of the pendragon. This soul shall come from your womb, as I said before. The old reign of the dark and evil from the pendragons shall finally die when your womb rots. I have been waiting for almost an entire age for this moment." The God Arawn laughed.
"Please, just let me live!"
The God Arawn sat on the alter next to Wilona. He took her wrists in his hands and pushed them together.
"I am watching you always, and if you ever call upon the darkness again. I shall send you there to rot for the rest of eternity." Arawn swore.
"Ahh!" Wilona cried, but when he released her wrists, they were no longer broken.
Everyone gasped in fright.
"The same goes for you. You see what I can do, and it will surely come of you. I will break you all, but if you join Una against the pendragons, I will mend your broken and damned souls." Arawn said, leaving the alter.
"I know your faces, and if you choose against Una and me, you shall see the face of the God Rudiobus coming to break your skulls. You shall worship the dark no more. You will fight with me, or you will fight the demons in hell that will come for you." Arawn said
He then grabbed Alaric's hand and pulled him to Ingrid's body. Alaric was utterly shut down. He was shaking, not only from the cold but the body that was Una's that was leading him away.
"You have my gratitude, Alaric Møller. You and your sister have helped Una, and you have helped me. For this, I shall grant you many blessings." He said, kneeling at Ingrid.
Arawn put his hand on her neck, and suddenly Ingrid convulsed. She spewed blood and mud out of her throat. Arawn touched her broken nose and her broken arm that Alaric did not see. They healed instantly. Alaric cried in joy as he held the living Ingrid to his chest.
"Una?" Ingrid said in a daze.
Arawn looked over at Alaric and began to speak in his native tongue. This shocked Alaric, but this assured him finally that this was not Una.
"I should have you slain for drugging and killing so many, but you did not know of the agenda behind this, and you had no choice. You and your sister have my blessings now until you leave this plane. You shall never suffer again." Arawn said, caressing Alaric's cheek.
"Thank you," Alaric said hesitantly.
He did not know If he was talking to an angel or a demon.
"I have chosen you, Alaric. You come from a noble bloodline as well, despite what you were brought up as. Your parents were not your parents. This is a truth you must learn in time. You have a throne waiting for you in the north under the name Lothbrok. Ingrid does not share with your parents. I know this is upsetting to you, but it was designed this way for your protection. You needed to go into a family that looked like your family. They did well. They fooled you." Arawn smiled.
"What?" Alaric said, surprised.
"Impossible!" Ingrid added.
"Your true parents are dead, but they were not the ones that brought you here. You will find the truth with Una when you win my war and head north. I cannot tell you everything, you must find it for yourself. When you win your throne, you will be set free from your past. That is my gift to you and Ingrid. It is also your destiny. Una is your destiny. I am merely a facilitator of right, not a true God but still a God. Do not waver when you call upon the higher creator or me. It is written on your soul and Una's. I will watch you like my own pups. You will face many trials, but you will always win." Arawn said.
"I don't understand?" Alaric admitted.
"You shall soon, my beloved. Know that you are loved, and your journey is just beginning. I shall see you soon, in this life and the next. Never fear again, for your laments are over." Arawn leaned in and kissed his cheek and then Ingrid's.
Arawn stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff.
"Wait!" Alaric cried out.
"Una?!" Ingrid screamed.
Arawn plunged himself off of the end of the cliff, terrorizing Ingrid and Alaric. A few moments later, they saw a giant beam of blue light fly up and high into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.
Suddenly all the burning torches burnt out, and they were left only by the light of the pale moon sliver in the sky.
"Wait, what are you doing!?" Alaric heard Wilona scream from afar.
"Stop!" She insisted.
Her group of men and women began walking out of the woods towards the cliff face. One by one, they all plunged off the cliff in mass. Alaric and Ingrid were frozen, watching them fall to their deaths on the sharp rocks below.
"Let's go, Ingrid. They must have chosen the dark over Una." Alaric said, picking Ingrid off of her feet.
"That wasn't Una, was it?" Ingrid said, frightened and shaken.
"No, she is in the castle, left somewhere safe, I presume. She will find her way to us." Alaric said, bowing his head.
"Is it true, you're not of my blood, brother?" Ingrid begged as they held each other closer.
"Regardless of blood, you will always be my little sister. If what the being said was true, then that makes no difference. You will always be family to me." Alaric said, trembling.
"Let's go sleep this night, let the spirits have their antics, but we shall be at rest now." Ingrid insisted.
"We can sleep well now, finally, after so many long years." Alaric rejoiced.
"A better sleep than death." Ingrid laughed.
"Enough talk. We should be filling the air with our snores." Alaric said happily.
He wonders what happened to Ingrid when she died. That will be for them to discuss later. Ingrid laughed, and she broke away from Alaric and ran towards the castle.
Alaric looked back up at the sky and stood there for a moment.
"Thank you, Father God, and thank you, mysterious being from beyond." Alaric smiled.
Finally, the truth can free him. He has found his destiny, and now he will find his right destination.