“My name is Malvin but you may call me Mal,” the dullahan bowed, his stringy hair, the color of sun-bleached driftwood, slipped over his beady coal eyes for a second.
He pushed his hair back with a pallid hand and I swallowed hard, noting how his skin was both the color and consistency of moldy mozzarella. He was grinning so wide that the corners of his mouth reached the sides of his face... and he never stopped smiling. Nor did his eyes stop moving, flitting about to each of us and back again.
Cat growled and my Star's Guard lifted their swords.
“We know you're behind the abductions,” I said to him as more dullahans exited the woods and spread out before us. “I am both Ambassador and Extinguisher and I'm in my right to extinguish all of you if you don't stand down.”
“Oh, you can try,” Mal spoke through the grin. “We outnumber you greatly and your companions are already being subdued.”
I glanced to the side and saw that he was right, even though magic sparked and shouts filled the air, our side was being overcome by sheer numbers.
“But you made a fatal mistake, dullahan,” Raza stepped forward and the dullahans paused, staring at his eyes like hypnotized snakes. “You stole my son.”
“Lord Raza,” Mal stuttered. “We had no idea you'd be with the Princess.”
“Why would you try to kill me?” I shook my head. “Don't you realize that the Sluagh will be after you now?”
“We are not trying to kill or harm you in any way, Princess Seren,” Mal held up his hands. “We merely need you to come with us, where you're comfort will be seen to until we release you at a later time.”
“So that my father backs a war against the witches?” I lifted a brow.
“Exactly,” Mal pulled a strange looking item from his belt.
It was golden cream in color, like old dice, and laced with silver wire. He flung it out and it draped beside him, clicking eerily together. My eyes widened as I realized what it was; his whip. All dullahans carried a whip made from a human spine. The protrusions of the spine were dipped in metal and were sharpened to razor-sharp edges.
“You may have succeeded,” Raza mused and the darting eyes of every dullahan once more settled on him. “Had you not taken Rayetayah. Now you will all die.”
“Lord Raza, your son is well cared for, as is all of his people,” Mal held up a conciliatory hand. “They are safe within our village of Dathadair. They are comfortable and none are mistreated. I promise you that.”
“I'm happy to hear that he lives,” Raza said and the dullahans started to look relieved... until Raza continued. “So you will die quickly instead of being tortured slowly. You may thank me now.”
“Lord Raza,” Mal shrank back from Raza's glowing stare. “Please, we are only doing what we believe is right! You've seen the witches, our offspring. We created monsters and we must correct our mistake.”
“Monsters?” I mused. It was funny how perception worked. Eye of the beholder and all that.
“Yes, we may appear monstrous to you,” Mal's eyes were back to darting about. “But we are as the Goddess intended us to be and we serve our purpose. The children we fathered on humans were not meant to be born, nor were the children which followed them. The magic has mutated and become truly monstrous. They are unnatural creatures.”
“Perhaps they were a mistake,” I pushed Conri a little to the side so I could face Mal better. “But they are here now. They live and it's not for you to say who has that right.”
“Isn't it?” Mal cocked his head. “We know death, Princess. Welivedeath. We hear its call and help it along its way. We know exactly who must or must not die.”
“I care not for your reasons,” Raza spread his wings and stepped forward, causing the dullahans to take a step back out of the significant shadow he cast. “You are unseelie. You know better than to offend me. There is no excuse for what you've done.”
“I promise you, Lord Raza,” Mal whined. “We had no intentions of harming your son. He's alive and well. We simply want war with the witches so we may kill these abominations.”
“Youare an abomination,” Raza took another step and started to shift, “to want a war after you've seen what magic can do in battle. And I intend to stop you before you get your wish.”
Yet, instead of running, as I'd thought they would, the dullahans pulled back their whips and attacked Raza before he could finish his transformation. It was a bold move and perhaps a brilliant one; kill the dragon-djinn before he becomes a dragon. It was probably their only shot at survival. But my knights didn't even pause, they instantly went to Raza's defense, launching magic into the fray as they simultaneously slashed with steel. Everything became louder; the clang of weapons, the shouts of men, and the roar of magic. But then I lifted myself off the ground, hovering between earth and sky, and spread my arms out wide.
The world went quiet, the chaos fading into the heartbeat that filled my ears. Magic rushed up my limbs and out of my hands, not bothering to fill my fingertips first. It simply flared bright and powerful, out into the twirling mass of friends and foes. I didn't worry for one second about striking the wrong person. My magic was an extension of myself and I knew thatit knewwho to hit.
Dullahans screamed as they were wrapped in thick vines, black as a witch's cat, and pierced by thorns the size of spear heads. Flames coasted along the swirling lengths like ballet dancers across a stage, beautiful really. And like most beautiful things, they were deadly; two dullahans fell to the ground to writhe and scream until their hearts caught fire. Once those organs burned, the dullahans went silent.
Raza pulled free of the slicing whips and completed his shift behind the wall of my Guard. Then he launched himself up into the air. It was hard to look away from the magnificent sight of a blood-red dragon against the cool New Mexico sky. Even more difficult when he made a dramatic turn and swooped down to scoop up two dullahans. A cracking sound echoed over the roar of battle as Raza broke dullahan backs and then pierced each chest with a long talon. The bodies were thrown carelessly to the ground as he dove for more victims like a heron diving for fish.
The dullahans who had been battling the rest of our group, abandoned their fight to come to the aid of their floundering brothers. Every element raged in the air around us as fairy fought fairy; shards of ice flying like spears, whirlwinds picking up victims and throwing them yards away, rocks rumbling underfoot, and of course fire blasting through it all.
This was why Danu desperately wanted peace between her children and why Raza thought these fairies were abominations to seek war. We were never meant to fight each other. When humans battle, they leave corpses behind. Sometimes they may burn buildings or tear down cities. That is horrible, yes. But when fairies fight, they destroy the very earth. They bring down the heavens and scoop up the sea. They tear down mountains and level forests. They can lay waste to the world with their fury.
