The Other Side of the Forest by: Elsbeth Morgan Rynders believed the worlds found in his books were much more interesting than the one he lived in. Unfortunately ancient powers couldn't care less dragging Morgan into a quite a different adventure whether he is interested or not.

Chapter 18
Pyrotechnics went off along the enemy’s line as Witches and Wardens entered the fight flattening large groups of the Unseelie. The Weres too were taking large chunks out of the Dark Fae when our group hit their line hard but they were starting to hit us back. Now with our group almost surrounded, I parried a black blade and cut its wielder in two turning him into a cloud of flies. With a flick of my wrist, I lifted up three Troll-kin sending them into the air to crash amongst their comrades. I did not fight alone. Mal in the form of a Kodiak bear watched my back quickly crushing a number of Troll-kin coming up behind us. Liam flittered along the flanks, a one man wrecking crew with his huge six foot sword and Alex took point. Moving like the wind, his magic reinforcing his attacks and defense I could see that my cousin was trying to cut a path for me. Unfortunately, we were not getting very far.

Quantity has its own quality, as many military people will tell you. More and more Duplicates and Troll-kin pressed us. When over a dozen of their numbers appeared to our rear, I was finally in the position to stop them from joining the fight. I dropped another Duplicate then reached out feeling the living plants beneath their feet. Vines, grass and plants shot in the air grabbing arms and legs. I closed my fist sending the group crashing down. Another horde soon suffered the same fate but this time a few Oak trees began to move. Swinging their branches, these mighty ancients threw the troll-kin high into the air and then smashed them into the ground.

“Neat trick.” Alex said as he cut down a pair of Troll-kin.

I grinned. Unable to do this earlier I now had a feel of the land around me as we slowly pushed back the darkness. Then the darkness snapped as the Duplicates, all of them at once disappeared. Triumphal shouts and howls of fury filled the air. Whoever managed that accomplishment saved our butts. We now had a bridgehead.

“If you liked that watch this.” I knelt on the ground, my hand touching the earth. “I call upon Ash, Oak and Hawthorne, come to my aid.”

The forest behind us no longer restrained, moved forward and from its darkness burst forth a pack of dogs except these dogs were as large as a pony. Camouflaged in greens and browns their eyes glowed like fire. Guardians of the woods the Cu Sá¬th charged forward hitting the dark Fae like a hammer. A second pack came out of the woods and then a third. The dark Fae stood for a moment then withdrew deeper into the wooded park.

Watching the Dark Fae flee I reached over and touched Mal closing the numerous cuts and abrasions he had received in the fight. The Weres have a great ability to take damage but eventually even that ability will get overwhelmed. As I absent mindlessly scratched the large Kodiak bear behind the ears, I felt Liam come up next to me. He stood there with his Claymore now pointed down at his feet.

“Let’s take a look at everyone.” I knew the break from battle would not last long. The leaders of the Dunkelheit threw their weakest members at us trying to wear us down. It was only a matter of time before the Countess and her retinue joined the fight.

Thankfully, most of the Weres, although cut up, were not too bad except for three. One of Richard Kincaid’s nephews and two of the Lion-Dogs somehow managed to break multiple bones. I sent them back to the edge of the Fae Wood. Eshne Teague and Dan Summers set up a small triage area for us to send back our wounded. The group also consisted of another Deputy Sheriff and a pair of EMT’s who joined them. Mal said they were lesser Weres. I still had a bunch to learn.

To my horror, I discovered a Warden lay dying. One of the Witches found me and I quickly rushed to his side. His wife, my soon to be High School Chemistry teacher, was trying to keep him still. The Warden was struggling obviously in terrible pain. A couple of other Witches held his hands trying to heal him but to no avail.

“Sit still you idiot, you’ll bleed to death.” Tears were running down the Witch’s face as her husband lay dying in a pool of his own blood. She looked up hopefully at us as I knelt by his side. I could tell that a Fel blade wounded him.

“What happened to the Fae who wounded him?” I pressed my hand along his side. The sword had damaged a good number of his internal organs. I pushed deeper into the wound, drawing out the darkness and repairing as much damage as I could without causing more harm. The human body was too complicated to just wing it but the Warden seemed to relax with his heartbeat growing stronger. If I had gotten to him a few minutes later, he would have been dead.

“An Oak tree stepped on him I think.” One of the other witches said with a nervous giggle.

“Your Highness we don’t have time.” Liam commented while watching the Troll-Kin move forward once again.

“Make me time.” I needed to finish what I was doing; the Warden wasn’t safe just yet. Alex approached I could tell that he didn’t want to interrupt but it was important.

“One of the Redcaps approaches, Your Highness.”

“I know.” I could feel its presence it was familiar.

Suddenly the Warden tried to sit up. “Let me up, I’m fine just had the wind knocked out of me.”

“Shut up Kyle, you almost died.” His wife scolded him without much anger. “Thank you, my lady.”

“No, thank you.” I quickly sent Kyle and his wife with another Witch and her Warden who looked like he was done back into the arms of the EMT’s. The second pair could complain to me later.

The Countess and her captains stood amongst the rocky field before the face of a large Há¼gelgrab or Viking burial mound. Without the centuries of wearing down its appearance there was no confusion of who slept in the mound on this side of the Fae Realm.

“Eá²ghan your Jabol has either fled the field or is dead.” The sudden disappearance of the Duplicates caused a murmur of concerned amongst the Unseelie. The Filipino was supposed to be outside of the battle in a safe location. Did the Princess know enough about his ability to counter it? The speaker growled in frustration. He was another Sidhe, Sir Maven Knight of the Winter Court. Just arriving after being unable to find his missing men lost somewhere in southern Massachusetts; he now found the rest of his troops being chewed to pieces in front of him. He gave the Countess a glare realizing that she might actually be trying to destroy his command. Sir Maven growled and started to walk towards the battlefield.

“Leaving so soon, Maven?” The Countess called out. The Knight ignored her as she started to laugh.

The Orkneyjar sorcerer failed to see the humor. “Sianna what do you propose now? “

“Oh do calm down Eá²ghan, it’s going as well as it can be expected. Did you really think a Princess of the Blood would not be capable enough to find allies? It will make her humiliation most satisfying; even more so if I get to see her face when Sile slits this little one’s throat.”

The Countess turned to Abigail who sat on her knees, head down in front of a large stone slab.

“Would you let Sile cut your throat, dear one?”

Abigail looked up at the Countess her eyes full of undying love. “Yes mistress, would you like to do it now?”

Sianna reached down and cupped the young girl’s chin. Crushing this one spirit had been most satisfying, especially since she was a favorite of that Princess. “Eá²ghan I’m changing our plans, I wish to keep this one.” What would be even better than seeing the Princess’ pain would be to let Abigail betray the person she once loved; that would be most satisfying. The Sidhe wanted to look into the Princess’ eyes when the foolish girl realized she had lost everything.

The Troll-Kin came out of the woods in a hurry. I had a sneaking suspicion they were afraid of something behind them and I wasn't surprised when the Redcap came out of the woods. This time I charged him with a plan, coming under his weapon I slashed at his legs. The beast roared in rage as the blade cut deep. He tried to grab me but I backed away slashing again at his arm. I knew these wounds were nothing more than a minor inconvenience but it put his attention onto me. The Redcap almost went down as the first Kodiak bear hit him from behind. Mal knocked the Redcaps pike into the dirt. I pointed my sword at the ancient pike and shattered it with a word. Now lets see how well it fights without a weapon. The creature began to turn when a second bear hit him from the side. Then a massively huge Kodiak who I knew was Richard brought the Redcap down. My plan was for the Kincades to take care of the Redcap if he showed up and if necessary, all of the them would join in. A Redcap could easily handle a few bears but a group of Kodiaks, not so easily. I couldn’t even see the beast anymore just a roaring pile tooth, fur and claws.

I watched as Liam charged what appeared to be another Sidhe. As they danced around one another, I was surprised how quickly Liam could throw that Claymore around. That modern looking body armor the other one was wearing wouldn’t be very protective against six feet of Sidhe sharpened steel. However, Liam was giving way taking a deep gash to his forearm then a second to his thigh. Before the Dark Fae could draw back for a killing stroke, I rushed forward blocking the blow meant for Liam. I pressed forward letting the Dark Fae blade slip down my guard trapping it. Without stopping I twisted my sword arm then thrust the blade forward. The armored Sidhe stood back I think we were both shocked to find my sword sticking out of his chest. As he crumbled to the ground I rushed to Liam’s side.

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Rá³isá­n husband knelt on the ground trying to stop the flow on flood coming from his thigh. I reached over closing the wounds but they still needed care. “Be well, Liam.” He opened his mouth to argue but I sent him back to Aunt Eshne.

A scream of agony caught my attention. I watched in horror as what I assumed to be the Countess withdrawing a long slender blade from the black of a second Temple Dog. Wiping the blood off her blade, she gave me a contemptuous smile. Alex moved forward and blocked my path.

“By Oak, Ash and Hawthorne Lord Alexander may I have this dance?” She stood and brought her sword around in a salute.

“Did she just challenge you to a duel?” I asked incredulously. If so, I knew there was no way as a Sidhe that Alex could not accept.

“Yes, she did.” He brought his sword around and saluted the Countess. “By Oak, Ash and Hawthorne, I accept your challenge Countess Sianna.”

“Alex?”

“Please Your Highness...I don’t know how this is going to turn out.” He didn’t keep his eyes off of the Countess who started to circle us. I growled reach up and kissed him on his cheek. “Stupid man...don’t die.”

“I don’t plan on it.” He grinned and began to circle the Countess as well.

Without another thought, I quickly ran towards the fallen members of the Shisaa family. “Oh please...please…don’t be dead.” I reached the pair and thankfully they are still among the living, just. One of the dying was a beautiful woman, the second a young man who couldn’t be any older then myself. I started to tremble. Who do I heal first, the worst or least hurt? I felt relieved as I looked up to see Diana. She and two other Witches with their Wardens rushed to my side. “We’re here to help.”

As I touched the injured, I tried to hold my anger in check but it’s difficult. The wounds reek of malevolence. It’s bad enough to thrust a blade into a living fresh but to use a cursed weapon as well. We worked quietly; the Witches keeping the young man stabilized while I removed the weapons terrible influence from the woman. At the same time, I tried to keep an eye on the fight between the Countess and Lord Alexander.

They moved in a deadly dance neither seeming to have any advantage over one another. Both have honed their magic in such a way that it’s almost impossible to watch the fight. Back and forth they traded blows moving in and about the other combatants.

With the weapon’s influence removed, the Were’s healing abilities kick in. I looked around at my companions. I could tell that minor wounds and fatigue had brought them to their limit. Maybe it wasn’t a terribly wise idea but I had had enough of others being harmed on my behalf. As I shifted the group out of the Fae Realm, I hugged Diana. “Thank you for everything.”

I stood up retrieving my sword. It was odd. I was alone on the battlefield. Off to the side I could hear the Kincades and the Shisaa’s continuing their fight. Even my Cousin was missing. Did the Countess intend to pull away all of my protectors and leave me alone? Was this all part of her plan? I didn’t matter. I still had someone who I loved to rescue and those who stood in my way would pay dearly. Turning I entered another part of the park, alone but hopefully drawing closer to Abigail.

Authors Notes: A special thanks to djkauf for a little elvish editing. Thanks to all for reading! Take Care - Elsbeth