No Dominion The Walker Papers - By CE Murphy Page 0,27
a sword.
Cernunnos cottoned on to that, and sounded accusing: “You told Joanne you could use that weapon.”
I shrugged. “I said I’d make do. I will. I learned how ta fight a long time ago, Horns. S’the difference if you’re doin’ it with a stick or a sword?”
“One has edges.”
So did his voice. I said, “Don’t worry, Horns. I can take care of myself. I ain’t gonna give you anything to apologize to Jo about.”
“You had best not.” He whistled sharply and the dogs came to him at a run, bouncing and slobbering when they reached his side. The riders and the rooks came more slowly, apparating outta the mist already on horseback. One of ‘em carried a saddle that the boy put on my mare, and she took a bridle without complaint. No bit, though. None of the Hunt’s horses wore bits. I didn’t figure a piece of metal in their mouths was what made ‘em ride the skies anyway, so I couldn’t see that it mattered. Another of the riders had the armor Cernunnos had been talkin’ about. Chain mail, though it didn’t seem right that a god who was around before chain mail was invented oughta have any. ‘course, by that logic he shouldn’t had a rapier, either. Guess even a god followed trends.
“It’s cunningly made, but you will not want to wear it against your skin,” he said to me, so I shrugged off my plaid shirt and tugged the mail on over my white undershirt. It weighed less than I thought it would, and didn’t pinch as bad as I expected.
“What is it, mithrail?”
Cernunnos’s eyes darkened like I’d offended him. “It is the very silver that sword is made of,” he said sharply, “and there is no word to encompass that. It will protect you from a great deal, but I still would not advise taking a direct strike.”
“Buddy, I got no plans to take a direct hit.” I buttoned my shirt over the armor and clambered up on the mare. Cernunnos looked pained and Imelda blew an exasperated breath, like she thought I was making a mess of things on purpose. I grinned and patted her neck. One of the dogs howled, and half a second later we were running for the moon.
CHAPTER THREE
Somehow I expected to come out on the battle already met. Expected we’d arrive in the thick of it all, like heroes riding to the rescue, an army of wild men comin’ over the ridge to save the weary soldiers. I guessed I’d been watching too many old Westerns, though, ‘cause when we rode outta the sky, there was no fight going on below.
There was a big ol’ mostly-flat hilltop, though. Mountaintop, I guessed, by local standards. At my end of time, it was called Knocknaree, and its claim to fame was a stone age pile of rocks called Maeve’s Tomb that stood a good thirty feet tall. It wasn’t here yet. Lots of others were—they were gravemarkers of some kind, called cairns, and they were all over Ireland, but Maeve’s Tomb hadn’t been built yet. We’d gone a long damned way back in time if a Neolithic building wasn’t there yet, but that was about the last of my worries, ‘cause there was somebody waiting for us, and I had a job to do for her.
Brigid, the Irish mother goddess of healing, childbirth and song. Or somethin’ like that. Jo was always impressed with how much magic mojo knowledge I had, but the truth was I was barely a step ahead of her, and didn’t always remember the details.
By my reckoning, it had only been a few minutes since I’d seen Brigid. She’d taken a hell of a hit, one meant for Joanne. One that woulda stopped Jo from getting to me in time to heal my cut throat, so I owed the lady one. More than one, ‘cause Jo mighta died too, if Brigid hadn’t gotten in the way. I wasn’t traipsing around with Cernunnos just ‘cause Jo didn’t dare ride with him again: I had debts to pay.
I hadn’t really seen what’d gone on, thanks to the afore-mentioned cut throat. I’d just seen the aftermath, with Brigid sinking against the Lia Fáil like she was dying of a wasting disease. She looked better now, her color stronger and her face not so gaunt. Red knotwork tattoos stood out on her exposed upper arms like bloody scars. Before, her copper hair had been worn loose, and her white robes had