Return of the Danu Read online

  The Return of the Danu

  by

  Kelly Lucille

  Text Copyright Kelly Lucille 2018

  All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter One

  The black gates of Haven shut behind them and Elena felt the clang of that black monstrosity closing like prison doors slamming at her back. It did not help that the large dark warrior beside her held her arm like he had no intention of letting go. He was not hurting her, but there was no give in the big hand that wrapped around her elbow so completely. But then, until a few moments ago, they had been mortal enemies. Now they were supposed to be allies.

  Elena winced as the knife in her shoulder shifted. Pain she had been valiantly ignoring flared. When she had been in the Green, she at least had the magic of the wilds to draw on. Here in the stone city of Haven she did not even have that. The pain was getting worse and she was more than a little aware of the blood trickling in a steady stream down into her sleeve and bodice.

  She ignored it for the moment, looking up into the courtyard surrounding the black gate she raised her chin and pretended a serenity she did not feel. Even if her unusual amber hair and pale forest Green eyes did not give away her otherness, no one could mistake the traditional leather garb of the Danu. From the elaborate braids in her unusual red hair to the soft soled leather boots on her feet, everything, including the browns and Greens of her tunic and supple leather pants, fit tight and tucked close to her body for ease of movements among the trees and vines of the wild proclaiming without a doubt what she was.

  Just as surely as the armored leather pants and straps holding numerous knives and swords worn over otherwise bare muscled brown chests proclaimed most of the men milling inside the inner bailey to the be giants of the southern army. The dark males with their olive sun kissed skin and dark hair towered over the few native Haven residents that milled here and there, and incidentally over Elena who was like all Danu, both smaller than the Southern warriors by a good foot of height and willowier than the stockier native Haven residents.

  There were a few native-born northerners among their conquerors even now, well dressed lords standing far to the back of the milling soldiers, waiting for a chance to speak with the King she assumed, taking in their elaborate colorful clothing. Others not so well dressed but still more colorful and smaller of build and lighter of coloring that the barbarian horde that stood as their army cared for the horses and men, or just moved through the crowd trying to get from one place to the next without being trampled. But looking around she knew most of the smaller natives had been smart enough to hide in their rock homes behind solid locked doors while the southern giants battled the magic users of the Green. A battle that had almost started right at their gates. She could not blame them for that. She would have stayed hidden in her wilds if she had had a choice.

  It was no wonder that the massively built warriors that looked to be hewn of solid rock glared at her suspiciously, or curiously, depending. She stood out quite distinctly as the enemy in this crowd. And a wounded one at that. She felt much like a small brown wren flittering wounded among much larger and heavily armored clawed beasts of the Green. And it was doubly uncomfortable surrounded as she was by rock walls and cobbled streets. The connection to the Green broken and blocked by so much stone had Elena wondered how any of them could breathe in such a place.

  The shorter stockier more colorfully dressed Haven natives went the opposite way, they avoided looking at her as if they thought the magic in her blood might somehow be contagious. She could almost taste the fear when someone’s eyes accidentally glanced her way.

  But then it might not be her they were avoiding looking at. She was after all in the company of two of the most dangerous men on the continent. King Rek Morten holder of the sword known as witch killer. He had conquered the South and then turned to claim the Northern lands with a bloody ruthless drive that conquered an entire continent.

  He had also been the man who decimated the people of the Green until the Danu had become little more than legend. Built like an immovable oak tree, he towered over nearly everyone around them. And that was saying something since the warrior people of the Southern Desert lands were all well over six feet and built for battle. Rek Morten was robust, tall, and wide shouldered, thick at the thighs and arms, and barrel chested.

  The twelve years since he had won his place and been proclaimed High King had not softened him. The silver grey of his once dark hair was cut short at his nape and added no softness to his harsh featured and hawk like nose. The road map of scars and hard lines across his sun-bronzed features were the only indication he was no longer the warrior of his youth. Even wearing the same battle leathers as his army did not detract from the fire in those dark blue eyes. He hardly needed the heavy fur cape with the shiny gold emblem at his throat to proclaim his status. No one looking at him would doubt he was King Rek Morten. Fierce intelligence and ruthlessness shined out of those dark blue eyes like a beacon. Every warrior that caught his eyes bowed respectfully and moved out of the way.

  If he were not scary enough, his oldest son Ansgar, heir to the throne, General of the Southern Army, holder of Horth and hater of all things magic stood beside him. He was known as Ansgar ‘the Bloody’ and looking into that brutally beautiful face no one would doubt he deserved his name.

  Larger even than his father, Ansgar the Bloody stood nearly seven feet tall and every inch of that was solid muscle and killing efficiency in warrior leathers. The sickle shaped scar on his chin drew the eye but did nothing to detract from the deadly beauty of that distracting face. Like his father the only thing that distinguished his leathers from the men under his command was the dark purple cloak of royal office. Unlike his father his eyes were an ice blue that made one think of a cold silent death rather than the harsh blistering fire of temper, but it was a lie. She had needed to see the big war general across the battlefield exactly once to know he raged with the same fire his father threatened her beloved wilds with. Beautiful the man might be, but it was a harsh masculine beauty that scared her as much as it drew her.

  It was Ansgar the Bloody's large rough hand holding her arm in an unbreakable grip, and she could attest with utmost positivity that however cold the man appeared his touch on her arm burned, nearly as much as the knife that pierced her shoulder. The knife, like the hand that threw it nearly starting a war, had been his.

  How had she gotten here? Elena wondered, doing her best to emit serenity when all she wanted to do was run back to the Green, possibly screaming like the small scared female she was. Unfortunately, that would be bad on several levels. First because it would make her, and her people, look weak in a time where they needed to appear strong, and second because she would not give the warrior holding her so firmly the satisfaction of seeing it.

  She winced at just the thought of the satisfaction on his face were she to give in to her fears. She was made of sterner stuff than that, all Danu were, or they never would have survived their childhood on the run from the very men she now walked beside.

  She could feel nothing more than a trickle from the Green here, but she was not like other Danu, her gifts
were such that she had other ways to call power. Milling around her along with the soldiers of the Southern Armies were their battle steads, and while some had come from Southern bloodlines, most had been caught wild here in the North, or bred from stock that had once roamed the Greens. It gave her an edge that no other Danu possessed, because while all Danu connected to the growing things in the wild Green, her gift allowed her a further connection with the animals that roamed it. It was the sole reason her brother had let her go with the men he still saw as the enemy without more of a fight when she had been commanded by the new queen of the Danu to accompany them. He knew she was more qualified than most Danu to take care of herself away from the Green.

  She grasped at the slippery weave that floated like a shadow, connecting to the wild through the horses, all of which immediately tried to move in her direction as one. The warriors shifted, and she sent out a soothing call telling them to continue as they were, thankful that no one had noticed in the crowd what she had done. She drew the flickering power to herself like a candle flame that sputtered. If she were to touch one of the beasts it would be a different story, but from a distance the best she could do was pull in just enough power to heal her wound around the knife.

  Right now, blood loss was an issue, because the knife was blocking the drain the small healing that she had done would be sufficient to stop the flow. Once it came out, she would need a healer to deal with the wound before blood loss weakened her too much. Too much blood loss and she would have no choice but to return to the wilds for a full healing. And that was not something she had time for. Not when everything seemed to be riding on her ability to iron out the deal her queen had made.

  Katrine had ordered her to accompany the King and his son to get her shoulder seen to and to begin to work out the details of the new peace agreement between their people. No one was going to argue after she had claimed her power and connected all the world weaves across the land. She was the first true queen the Danu had seen in centuries. So long had it been that the stories of someone with that much power in the wilds had fallen, like many other things, to fairy tells and legends. Elena was not about to remind the queen she could go into the weave and be healed faster in the wilds then inside the stone walls of Haven. Even her brother Quain said nothing when she walked across the torn up North road where the queen had stepped, and the Green had followed. They all knew it was not really to be healed that she went with what only moments ago had been the enemy.

  Elena suddenly found herself in the position of dealing in politics. She was not sure how that had happened, but it was clear to all that her brother Quain did not have the mindset to keep the peace. Too much rage sat on his shoulders, pride, guilt and a quick temper easily riled. The other six Danu survivors they had raised were younger and even less experienced than Elena. They had been left far away in the Green in case they needed to run, again.

  Katrine could not leave the weave, not after claiming it so completely to stop the war. Wherever she went the wilds would follow, and none of the stone walls and rock homes of Haven would stand before the power of the wild things. So Khalon, son of Rek Morten had denounced his royal station and followed his new wife into the wilds, and Elena had crossed that invisible line, the knife of Ansgar the Bloody still in her shoulder, to deal with the man who had torched the Green and killed all but a handful of children in order to claim the wild places for his people. It had not worked of course, the wild were not so easily tamed. An act of aggression towards it made it adapt and grown teeth where none had existed before.

  In the twelve years since war had started between the Danu and the Southern armies not a foot more of the wild had been claimed. Which was the only reason she figured the warriors were agreeable to the peace treaty they had bargained for. That and the show of force Katrine had managed when her brother Quain and Ansgar the Bloody very nearly started the second war. Seeing both the Green sweep up to take the roads to stop the armies, and the sky open with rain to put out their fires had made an impression.

  She sighed and looked up to find the frost blue eyes of the dark warrior Ansgar the Bloody already looking down at her.

  "You are in more pain than you were a moment ago." His voice was as dark and deep as she had imagined when she first saw him.

  "Yes," she said simply. "I am Danu, away from the Green, Danu do not heal as fast." Not really a lie, per say.

  Ansgar the Bloody turned and looked at the warriors around them. He glared down any he found looking her way. Elena almost laughed at the comical way the brutish warriors turned pale and then found somewhere else to be from one look at the big warrior.

  He signaled to one of his men and gave him orders. "Send someone to find the healer and another to find home that the Danu stayed in when she was here in the city. The healer can come there."

  Elena breathed a sigh of relief. If Katrine had lived there then it was likely that she had worked a garden. Which meant there would be power reserves for Elena to draw on. Between that and the animals within the city walls, she could heal her shoulder as soon as the knife was taken out and no one would question it was the garden that made it possible. It meant she would not have to heal at a slow rate just to keep up appearances.

  It also meant, she realized, that the big warrior understood at least some of what the Danu were, and their connection to the land. She looked back up to find those ice blue eyes still on her. The look in them both measuring and grim. One did not want a man like Ansgar the Bloody to know your strengths, because it gave him too much insight into your weaknesses. She had no doubt he would use both to his advantage. Elena raised her chin and gave him her most serene eyes. Like the chill in his, the serenity she showed was deceptive. He knew it too, because his lips tipped up with just the smallest hint of a cold smile, while something dark and greedy sparked in his eyes.

  Challenge offered and accepted.

  Elena forced herself not to look away or show her sudden fluttering of worry.

  Finally, he released her from that sharp raptor gaze to turn and see a soldier waiting to catch his attention. A soldier she had not even noticed arriving until that moment. On the other side of Ansgar the Bloody, King Rek Morten looked over his son and her both, and something had him smiling a cool smile of his own. How had she forgotten the king was also right there beside them? How utterly careless of her.

  Maybe the blood loss was affecting her more than she thought? Whatever the case, she heard with some relief the directions the warrior was sharing with his General had to do with directions to the house of a weaver, where the Danu had resided, and Elena took the excuse to look away from all the big daunting warriors that surrounded her. A Danu garden sounded like a very good idea, and if it meant she would have a little space of peace away from southern warriors, kings, and princes, all the better. It would certainly be better than the rock walls and cobbled streets that even now felt as if they were pressing down on her.

  "A word," King Rek Morten said mildly enough, his eyes on his oldest son.

  Ansgar seemed to hesitate, but finally motioned to the two warriors that were nearly as scary as he was that shadowed their backs. "See her to the weaver Amelia's house. The healer will meet you. You will guard the Danu witch until I join you."

  Guard the Danu witch? Elena thought narrowing her eyes. Guess she knew where she stood. She turned and gave the big warrior prince a final serene look, She was thrilled to see it made his jaw clench just the smallest bit. It gave her some satisfaction that she bothered the big warrior. She did not know why that was, and she did not question her reasons too closely. She just nodded serenely at both men, as if she were the one in charge and they were dismissed, rather than the other way around, and followed her guards. A tension she had not realized left her shoulders as soon as they had turned the corner on the street and she could no longer feel those ice blue eyes on her back. Yes, some peace and quiet in a Danu garden would be just the thing about now. She wondered how the rest of the Danu were fairing in this ne
w world they suddenly found themselves in.

  Her thoughts reminded her that as soon as she had a moment alone, she needed to send a message to her brother. She did not want him coming to her rescue and making everything ten times worse. This peace between the armies of the north and the Danu of the Green was a tentative thing. All it would take would be one hot headed mistake to undo the peace that Katrine had made possible.

  Chapter Two

  "What are you up to old man?" Ansgar turned his head to glare at his father. He knew that light in those shrewd eyes very well. His father was hatching a plan and he already knew he was not going to like it. Even so his eyes went back to the witch as she walked away. He did not like the sight of the knife sticking out of that small soft body, any more than he liked the wince of pain on that pretty face. And he especially did not like that serene untouchable look in those Danu Green eyes. The last he could not explain even to himself.

  His father raised a brow and smiled. "I just want to assure myself that your head is back on your shoulders."

  Ansgar turned fully to face his father, the small female out of sight around the corner no longer holding his attention. "What does that mean?"

  "It means we need these peace talks to work, and I need to know you understand that and won't be throwing any more knives."

  Ansgar ground his teeth. "I was aiming for the male."

  His father gave him a bland stare.

  He growled. "You know as well as I do that you can't trust them."

  His father’s expression did not change. "That remains to be seen, but it will not be my son that turns the tide." He gave him his steel eyed face. "Do I make myself clear?"

  Ansgar unlocked his jaw to speak between gritted teeth. "The witch is safe enough."

  "Not good enough," his father said. "I am making her safety your responsibility."

  "What does that mean?" Ansgar asked, having a sinking feeling he knew where his father was going with this, even if he did not know all the reasons why his father wanted him to guard the girl.