No Dominion The Walker Papers - By CE Murphy Page 0,40

then she was gone again, an’ Cernunnos was knockin’ the Morrígan off my blade like Mickey Mantle at the bat. This time she fell, limp and bloody, all the damned way to the ground. My sword hand was tingling, power itching through it while I tried to remember what Jo had said about that necklace. It and the sword were both made by the elf king Nuada, I knew that. That coulda meant there was just some kinda interference between one piece of magic silver and another, but the burst of blue had seemed like more than that. I was gonna hafta ask Jo about that later.

Assumin’ there was a later. Cernunnos shouted something and I looked up to see the Devourer coming straight at me.

Funny thing was, I knew I oughta be scared, but all the fear flooded right outta me. I was old enough to die well, even if I didn’t much want to. I’d stopped being afraid of it when my wife died. For a long time I’d just been counting the hours ‘til I went with my Annie, but Joanne had changed alla that. I’d have been a better target for him before Joanne, but today I was ready to look him in the eye.

For such big guns, he wasn’t much to see. Just an old man on that pale horse, just about as skinny as a skeleton. His hair was thin an’ long, and his teeth were yellow, and he carried a staff instead of a sword. He wore robes kinda like the Morrígan’s, and like hers, they showed off blue knotwork tattoos around his upper arms. His were faded where hers still looked bright and new, but they were the same pattern, binding them together. He lifted his staff and pointed it at me, black magic gathering in the thing so strong I could see it whether the Sight was still working or not. Feeling way too calm for good sense, I shook my sword hand and waited.

Most of a year ago, Jo had found me a spirit animal. A tortoise, a real protective kinda spirit, good for armoring up and hunkering down. Maybe not so good for quick draw fights like this was gonna turn out to be, but I had to figure a spirit animal that could protect itself could fight, even if that didn’t necessarily follow in the real world. Either way, I drew the idea of that big mottled shell around me and felt the tortoise come to life at the back of my mind, ready and willing to take the hits that were comin’ my way.

A tar ball of black magic blew outta the Devourer’s walkin’ stick and tore across the sky at me. I snapped Jo’s rapier up, deflecting it as best I could. Her gunmetal blue healing power turned the blade electric, slicing through the worst of the blast and still leaving me reeling in the saddle. The air sucked right outta my lungs and stars spun in my eyes. The rapier got hot, like it’d been filled up with hate and the only way it could release it was by burning. I danced it in my fingers, but there was no way I was dropping the thing. It was my one link back to Jo. I hated ta think what might happen if it and me got separated.

The Devourer’s host of riders swept around him and crashed against the Hunt. They were all kindsa amazing, awful things, not fallen angels at all. They were shimmering blues and blacks, light falling through ‘em like they’d left their bodies behind a long time ago. A lot of them passed right through the Hunt and rushed for the field below, where Brigid’s army was gathering again. I had to think they were going to fight, not to take up new bodies from the dead, ‘cause that was a kind of sick I didn’t want to know about.

I looked up again an’ found myself face to face with the Master.

Cold rolled off him like he was something from between the stars. The air got thin all of a sudden. I dragged in a breath an’ didn’t let it out, kinda figuring I wouldn’t be able to suck in another one. Imelda trembled, tryin’ ta toss her head and stomp her feet, but she couldn’t move any more than I could. The Master’s eyes weren’t any kinda color, just pale, and I felt like he was looking straight into the bottom