6 Chapter 6

"Mo Chori! Are you alright?!"

"Yea, Yeah I'm good....ish. Hey how's my hair?! Do I dare look?"

I smiled in spite of myself.

"Your hair is fine love, you never left our world."

"What the what just happened to you girl?! You were all....zombie-fied, floating in the air, eye's all glowing blue and stuff. It was totally creepy, like poltergeist creepy!" Trilla blurted out.

"Redalia." Dumask's deep voice snapped my attention to his kind face.

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"What did you see my dear?"

"See?"

"In your vision."

"How did you know...?"

"I know many thing's, except what you saw, please, tell us."

"It was Doran and Beliad, he told Beliad to take a special dagger made from Ebony Stone and plunge it into my heart. He said it would sort of stop it but not kill it. Then he told him to cut it from my chest and take it to him. He also said...."I looked to Conall, tears threatening to fall.... "If Conall was truly alive, to kill him. He even told him to use a Shade if he had too. So I'm guessing Doran doesn't know for sure you're alive yet."

"I see. In the spirit of honesty and since we are all still under the influence of the serum I feel the need to tell you I've been watching Beliad for a while now. I believed he had been coercing with Doran for some time. I never thought he would go to such lengths as to corrupt Jaxon though. Tell me is he...?"

"Dead? No he's restrained upstairs. That was something I needed the Councils help with, extracting the Shade."

The speed at which shock and sorrow filled the moderately sized room would have broken any and all records known to man. A heaviness now sat like a lump in everyone's throat's, bad news was about to be delivered. Trilla and Hamesh looked from each other to Dumask, they fidgeted and shuffled in their spot's.Dumask took in a long breath then released it,as if to say "What I'm about to do will take it's toll on us all. But it must be said." He looked from his hand's to Redalia as he spoke.

"As you may know the extraction of a Shade is not an easy task, not much is known of their kind,what we do know is the vessel one inhabits must....die. Redalia, as long as Jaxon is alive the shade will use his body as it's own. Shades are of Darkness, they feed off of the darkness that lives inside us. There's not one person alive who doesn't have a bit of the dark inside them. I'm so sorry my girl but, there's nothing we can do short of killing him."

I could practically hear her heart taking a nose dive out of her chest and crashing to the floor. She looked absolutely devastated, It broke my own heart to see her this way. I hadn't known Jaxon, but he was tasked with protecting my mate and thus far he had done an amazing job. There had to be another way to extract the Shade without actually.....hold on a second, that's it!

"What if we kill the lad without actually killing him?"

"What? Conall, you're not making sense. How would we kill him but not kill him?"

"Simple Mo Ghrá, we use the Ebony Dagger. It will stop his heart without actually killing him. Then all we need to do is lay a trap to catch the Shade."

"You.....are...a genius!"

Redalia leapt into my arm's and kissed me hard. It felt so good when she was happy, like my soul warmed inside me. Our moment of bliss was cut short however, by the rugged Scotsman.

"Brilliant idea laddie, but how are we ta catch the Shade? They canoot be caught like a firefly in a jer." his tone wasn't harsh, more like genuinely inquisitive. Dumask answered before I could.

"If I recall correctly, Treya was our most effective asset against the Shade Invasion over the southern boarder farmlands, was she not? If anyone would know how to catch a free roaming Shade...it would be her."

"Treya? No one 'as spoke ta 'er in years though. She resides in tha Bottoms now."

"True but I believe if she'll talk to anyone..."

He slowly turned towards Trilla, who's eye's were lowered and who's face was drawing upwards slightly. As if she had just caught a whiff of a bad odor. She tried to hide it but the look of disgust was plain upon her otherwise beautiful face.

"...She'll talk to her own blood. Trilla.....I wouldn't ask if it were not absolutely necessary, you know that."

"I know...still, it doesn't make this any easier. I'll call her and see if she'll talk to me. Excuse me a moment." She and Hamesh threw Beliad into the chair he had occupied earlier and bound him tightly to it before Trilla turned to leave.

Dumask nodded solemnly as Trilla bowed slightly then left the room.

"I'd better go as well, in case she need's...errr...a hand..."

Hamesh bowed and hurried after Trilla, like a lost puppy looking for it's home.

It was just the four of us now. Dumask, Beliad, Redalia and myself, I sat back down and ushered for Redalia and Dumask to do the same. Beliad was unconscious in his chair, at least I hoped he was. I don't believe I could handle any more of his mouth this evening.

I brought my hand to my forehead and rubbed slowly, applying pressure at my temple. So much had been discovered tonight. Originally Redalia had shown worry that Dumask was the traitor but now we find it was Beliad, and Redalia's vision...Goddess only knows what that was truly all about.

We are two that make one. Her heart will never be completed without my own there with it....All these thing's rushing through my head are enough to drive a man insane! My inner turmoil was interrupted my Dumask's voice.

"I don't mean to interrupt what seems like a very deep thought, but I wonder if we may speak about the vision young Redalia had?"

"A welcomed interruption, I assure you. Yes, of course we can talk about it. That is, if Redalia is up to it of course."

She was looking down, staring at her hand's below the table. I had a feeling she was here but her mind was not, I touched into her mind to edge her back to the conversation and reality. She need not be alone in her own head at the moment.

"Mo Chroi, come back to us. You have strayed far and aren't focused. Your mind is a whirlwind, please try my love. Focus and talk to us...talk to me."

"I...I...I don't know why...I'm trying to figure out why he need's only my heart. I just can't...I don't..."

I spoke out loud in hope's it wold snap her out of the chaotic storm thundering in her brain.

"That's exactly what we're going to figure out, I promise. Now, let's just focus and please, calm yourself. I don't like seeing you so upset and your mind so unclear. Let's figure this out together."

"I agree Redalia, we can figure all this out. Let's just start with the obvious question. Why does he only want your heart? Any idea's?"

We sat in silence a moment. Until an idea suddenly popped into my head, albeit a very ludicrous idea.

"Well, what if Doran is trying to...no, never-mind, that can't be right. Redalia, Mo Chroi do you have any theories?"

"No, but what were you going to say?"

"Nothing, it's an old story my father used to tell me when I was a child, it's sort of like a legend among our people. But even Doran isn't stupid enough to believe in it."

"Well maybe he is, come on tell us. What's the legend?"

I sighed, knowing she would never give up nagging until I relented. Once again I found myself smiling at my mate's tenacity.

"Alright, but I'm telling you there's no way this little story has anything to do with what Doran has planned, it's just that, a story Redalia."

She scooted her chair closer to mine, threw both elbows up onto the table and rested her chin against her fists, Goddess help me she was adorable and sexy all at the same time. I was going to have trouble keeping my hand's off her for long period's of time.Her eyebrows arched for a moment, then I realized she was in my head. Her silky tone slid into my mind like melted chocolate over a strawberry.

"So I'm sexy and adorable huh? Hmm..."

"Yes, Mo ghra you are, now let's try to focus hmm?"

Her chuckle was like music to my ear's. So light and beautiful, as if angel's sang withing it's rhythmic tune. I pulled myself from my dream like state and cleared my throat.

" This is the legend of the Healing Stone. It is said that long ago, before my people were brought into this world the Great God Cernunnos was walking the shores of Ireland with his Wolf companion, Mac Tire. He came upon a rock formation and he and Mac Tire sat to rest. Gazing out onto the sea Mac Tire suddenly saw a woman drowning in the great ocean. He leapt into the sea and saved the woman's life. Having witnessed his bravery and compassion for the life of such a fragile creature as a human the great God healed the woman who had been badly beaten and gashed by the hard sea and it's rocks that lived close to the surface. After that day Mac Tire would return to the beach and meet the woman, they would spend all the day's together. One day though, the woman did not come. Mac Tire searched and searched but could not find the woman he had come to care for and love. In desperation he pleaded with Cernunnos to ask the God of the Underworld, Arawn if the woman's soul was trapped within his domain. Cernunnos, unable to see his sacred animal in such terrible shape, did as he was asked and surly the woman's soul now resided in the darkness of the Underworld. Mac Tire was heartbroken, but all was not lost. Cernunnos struck a bargain with the God of Darkness and Death. The woman's soul could return to earth for exactly five years, but at the end of the five years and at the midnight hour the woman's soul would return from whence it came. Mac Tire and the woman lived happily on earth together. Having heard of the lengths to which he had gone to, to save his beloved the God Taliesin granted Mac Tire his ability to shape-shift. Now Mac Tire could become human and sire a child. Unfortunately, not all the God's and Goddesses were as understanding of the love Mac Tire and his mate shared. The Goddess Morrigan became jealous of their love and so she poisoned the woman. But because the woman had already died and was living on bargained time she did not die. That didn't stop Morrigan from trying to separate them though. After month's of trying she finally had the perfect plan. Morrigan poisoned the woman once more but when she and Mac Tire laughed at her failure, Morrigan too laughed, but she laughed at their ignorance. For she, the woman was now barren. Her womb would never produce a child. Mac Tire and his mate were filled with sorrow. Having seen and heard everything Cernunnos went to Mac Tire late in the night. He told him of a special stone that, if his mate wore it around her neck, it would heal her womb. Mac Tire set out that very night for what Cernunnos had called, The Cloch Cneasaithe, or as you would call it, The Healing Stone. Mac Tire searched and searched and braved many obstacles, the whole journey took him years to complete, when he finally retrieved the Cloch Cneasaithe he went back to his mate and soon she became swollen with child. Unfortunately though, the time for his mate to descend back to the Underworld was nearing. When it was time to birth the child she knew she would not live to see the morn, she delivered a healthy baby and then called Mac Tire to her side. He gently took her in his arms,though she was scared she knew her fate and she smiled at her lover as she slowly closed her eyes for the last time. Mac Tire, distraught with grief howled into the night . He called upon the God Taliesin and gave back to him the ability of shape-shifting and in his blind fury and sorrow he begged Cernunnos to find a home for his child with the humans. For she looked exactly like her mother. Now there are two endings to this tale. The one everyone knows is that Cernunnos took the Healing Stone and using old and ancient magic placed it inside the child's heart. But the true ending is only known to the royal families. Cernunnos split the stone in half, it is said he waited very patiently throughout the decades for a female child of the humans and a male child of the wolves to be born, so that he may bestow upon each of them their rightful half of the stone. For in his eye's no one person, man or beast, should carry the full weight and responsibility of the Healing Stone."

I looked around the room slowly, everyone's attention was fixated on my story. I found Redalia's eye's and placed my hand upon her warm cheek. Satin against sandstone.

" I had a dream once when I was a young lad, I was in a lush, beautiful forest and Cernunnos came to me as a stag in that wood. He offered me a beautiful blue stone. Inside the stone....I saw you."

Redalia, who had been listening so intently thus far blinked rapidly while tilting her head slightly. I quickly continued.

"I sort of saw you , but I didn't know it was you. The person I saw was blurry but I saw your eye's and heard your laugh. I knew immediately we would be together one day. Cernunnos then took the stone and placed it inside my heart. The legend says that over the years whoever possesses the pieces of the stone shall be reborn again and again, the stone will stay with them, it's power growing with each life they live. Some believe it's the source of The Dearg Mac Tire Banrion and the Ceannaire an Wolven's powers and the reason we are so drawn to each other....at least that's what the legend say's, I mean, and anyway it was only a dream brought on by father's countless retelling of that old story."

No one spoke, they all just stared at me. It was the absolute most awkward moment I've ever dealt with.....in my life. I felt the need to explain a little more. But stopped myself, I had to give them time to process without over complicating it. Instead I'd tell them what I was thinking.

"I think Doran is after the Healing Stone, and I think that he thinks Redalia has the whole stone inside her heart. With the Ancient Healing Stone he would be..."

"Immortal."Damask's grim tone drove home what we were all coming to now realize.

"I never knew tha story had a separate endin laddie. But you're righ' ifin Doran wanted ta become immortal all he woul' have ta do is take tha stone fer imself."

I wasn't quite sure when Hamesh and Trilla had rejoined us but it seemed they had caught some of the story. Enough to piece it all together anyway. I was thankful I'd not have to repeat it.

"Still yet Hamesh, even you and your people know the legend is just that, a legend. It's not real. It can't be....right?"

"Then why do we glow?"

"What?"

Redalia's voice was barely above a whisper. I could detect shock mixed well with a sense of revelation. She felt as if she had finally found the missing piece to a torturous jigsaw puzzle that had plagued her. I could practically feel a bit of the weight lift from her mind as she took her time and methodically chose her next few words carefully.

"You heard me. Why do we glow? When we are together and I'm hurt or you try to heal me. Why do we glow? How is it we can heal rapidly when we are together but slowly while we are apart?!"

She was hyper now, her eye's wide with fancy and wonder. Could it really be true? Do we really and honestly have an ancient stone living inside us? How would....could....this be possible? It cant be! Can it? It was a DREAM! Wasn't it? I mean all this time, I thought the legend's and stories were just that, yet here we are. The two of us, heal faster when we are together, glow when we do the whole healing bit together, we feel each other even when we are in separate room's, we can speak to each other through telepathy without actually having telepathy.

I feel lost and alone when she's not by my side, I have a need....a drive to protect her, I have this deep rooted sense that I....love her. Like real love. The kind that makes me want to give my life for her's in an instant. But I barely know her! She barely knows me! How is it we both seem to be exhibiting these....symptoms? (For lack of a better word.) So much to figure out, so much to sift through, and so many questions still remain.

Does Doran really believe the stone was never broken and lies within Redalia? What is his next move? Where will he strike? What are his weak points? Is there anything Dumask and the council can do to help us? So many question's, yet I look over and see my beautiful Red, she's smiling and laughing at something Hamesh said. Her smile, so perfect, her eye's all lit up and sparkling like violet firework's.

I could stare at her and lose myself and the disaster we call our world. Sadly the facade can only last for a short time. We have to prepare, we need to make plan's or at least ONE good....err....half way decent plan. No matter what, I'd not let anything hurt her. But now isn't the time to think of that, now we had a different, yet still pressing matter to tend too.

I pushed myself to my feet, grabbed the still unconscious Beliad, and shuffled through his robes till I found my prize.

"So, what do you say we go free Jaxon of his demon's?"