Tir Alainn - The House Of Gaian - Tir Alainn - The House of Gaian Part 17
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Tir Alainn - The House of Gaian Part 17

"Who challenges me?" she shouted. As she turned slowly to look at all the women gathered in the circle, they averted their eyes. Or, like the ones from the western Clans, they stared apprehensively at the center of the clearing.

"Who challenges the Lady of the Moon for the right to lead the Fae?"

No answer. No one stepped forward to test their power against hers.

Then she saw a glow among the trees, coming toward the clearing. As it

came out of the trees, it took shape as a woman riding a gray horse.

Two Fae males stepped forward to intercept the intruder, took a long look at the woman's face, then hastily stepped back, bowing respectfully.

The woman dismounted, rested a hand on her horse's neck, then walked to

the circle. The Ladies of the Moon stepped aside to make room for her, but she walked past them into the clearing until she stopped a few lengths from the center, her face lifted as if she were looking at something hovering above the ground.

The glow on the woman's dress, on her skin ... It was as if the moon itself

had walked into the clearing.Jagged fear slashed through Dianna again. No. There was nothing special about this woman who had intruded into one of the Fae's private gatherings. There wasn't. It was just a trick of the starlight. The woman was just an intruder, while she, Dianna, was the Lady of the Moon. How dare this stranger ignore her? This time, when she asked the question, her voice rose in a scream. "Who challenges me?"

Selena heard the words, but they had no meaning. Nothing in the clearing had meaning ... except that glory in its center. She felt the pull of it, the hunger of it, and she felt the jagged need within it.

It should have been glorious. And it was. But it was also dangerous. Why had these women raised power like this and then never used it? Why hadn't

they released it back into the world, or grounded it to merge with the rest of the magic that lived in the Great Mother? It had the flavor of something that had been done over and over again. They'd taken what they'd needed and had ignored the rest. Now that power was no longer willing to be taken ... or ignored. It was going to release tonight. Whether it became something wonderful or something devastating would depend on how it was shaped by those who could channel it.

She glanced at the women around the circle. Why weren't they coming forward to start the dance? Couldn't they feel the urgency? What were they waiting for?

Her eyes rested briefly on the woman standing opposite her, inside the circle.

Was this the current Lady of the Moon? She could see the glow of their magic, could see the waxing and waning of the gift within each woman, just as they could surely see it in her while they stood together in this place.

There was strength in the woman standing on the other side of that globe of power, strength that was anchored to earth. But... She looked at the woman directly to her right. That woman also was anchored to earth, and while she wasn't quite as strong as the woman inside the circle, her power was richer.

Puzzled, Selena turned slowly to look at the other women. More of them had power anchored to air or fire than earth or water. Neither air nor fire could channel the power that had been raised-at least, not without careful, extensive training-but they could have supported earth and water. Why hadn't they?

And what were they waiting for?

She looked at the woman inside the circle, looked at the clenched hands and a face now hardened by hatred.

The test. Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of test to see who would

ascend to be the Lady of the Moon, the Huntress? When would it start? How was she to indicate she wanted to be part of that test? How ...The test, the Fae ... everything had to wait. Because the point had been reached when the dance wouldn't wait.

She walked forward, felt the air grow thick and heavy as she moved to the

very center of the clearing, the very center of the power.

She didn't know the dance for the moon. She knew the spiral dance and other ritual dances, but she'd always danced for the moon in her own way, for her own pleasure.

She looked at the other women. No one moved.

They don't know how to do this. They don't know how to dance to draw power into themselves and send it back out into the world. All right. A spiral dance, but not one that draws power to the center before being released. The power has already gathered, so the spiral has to go outward, giving the power a clear path to follow. So, a dance for the moon. Never changing, ever changing. Dancing around her older sister while the Great Mother moves through the seasons. Waxing moon. Waning moon. Full moon to dark of the moon. Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again ... little sister.

Smiling, Selena raised her arms and tilted her head back. The strength of the earth rose up through the soles of her feet, filling her slowly as it anchored her to the land. Within that strength was a hint of fire, the warmth of the summer sun. Above her was air... and water in the clouds that had slowly covered the night sky, turning it a pearly white.

As she lowered her arms, she brought her hands together, forming a cup out of them. Within her cupped hands, the power in the clearing began to glow-a ball of delicate, glittering moonlight. She shifted the ball of moonlight into her right hand, leaving the left open and free.

Holding her right hand close to her body, she turned in a slow circle. As she turned, a streamer of moonlight from the ball followed the movement. With each circle, she extended her hand a little farther. By the time her arm was fully extended, the air around her glowed. The power in the clearing, having been given a gentle channel of magic, constantly refilled the glowing ball in her hand.

Then she began to dance, her steps circling, spiraling out from the center. She let her movements represent the tides and the phases of the moon, while streamers of moonlight followed in her wake. She extended her left hand out in invitation, letting the other women know they were welcome to join her in the dance.

Blank faces. Wary faces. And the sullen anger from the woman standing inside the circle. For a moment, her temper flashed, and she felt the power she was drawing from the branches of the Great Mother as well as the power in the clearing hesitate for just that moment, trembling on the edge of following this new channel.

Then, as she circled again, she saw the face of the woman she'd noticed before, the one with the richer strength. Her face was filled with wonder and delight-and a yearning.

Selena extended her left hand.

The woman took a step forward, but her companions held her back and

whispered urgently. Regret shadowed the delight in the woman's face, and she stayed with her companions instead of joining the dance.

So Selena danced alone, ignoring most of the Fae present, focused on

keeping the raw power in the clearing benevolent. But she continued to notice the woman and her four companions- and she realized the other four had stopped the woman because they were afraid to disrupt the dance, afraid it would end if they stepped forward now.

So she danced alone, spiraling out until she reached the edge of that globe of power. When she finally stopped, she stood almost where she'd stood when she'd first walked toward that power. The whole center of the clearing was now streamers of moonlight in motion, following the spiral of the dance.

There was still too much power here. If the other women had joined her in the dance, they would have absorbed some of it, renewing their own strength in the process. They still needed to do that. There were enough of them that, once they'd taken in the power they could, the rest could be shaped into something harmless or gently grounded through the branches of the Great Mother. But how to tell them that?

She couldn't. She doubted they would listen to her. So how to do what needed to be done? She looked at the glowing ball of moonlight in her hand, then tossed it skyward as high as she could, sending a small breath of the branch of air with it. The ball burst over their heads, arcing in all directions, coming down on the women who made the circle.

She watched the glow of their power brighten. When their gift had been renewed, the power flowed harmlessly into the earth, filling the whole clearing with gentle light.

Tired now, she took a careful step back, breaking her connection to the spiral. Her limbs trembled with the need to ground the power she'd raised from the branches of the Great Mother, but she would need a few minutes of quiet and focus to do that safely, so it would have to wait a little longer. But not too much longer. Her emotions were raw. The joy she'd felt in the dance had constantly been pricked at the edges by the Fae's resistance to what she had done here, forming little jagged slices of anger inside her that she needed to smooth out.

That, too, had to be done soon because as conflicting emotions washed through her, she saw the power in all of those women flicker. It didn't matter how the Fae usually decided who ascended to control a gift. The power itself had issued the challenge-and she had met it. She controlled the gift now. Their lives were in her hands.

Mother's mercy, if I lose control now. . . Please, Mother, please let me get out of this circle and find someplace quiet for a few minutes.

She looked at the woman on the edge of the circle, who was now smiling at her shyly, hesitantly, as if waiting for some signal. But she didn't know the signal, didn't know-

"Who are you?" a harsh voice, bordering on hysteria, demanded.

The woman who had been inside the circle with her strode forward a few steps."Who are you?" the woman demanded again."I am Selena. And now I am the Lady of the Moon."The woman stared at her, wide-eyed, as if she had just been slapped. Then her eyes narrowed, and an ugly anger filled her face. "What are you?"

The sneering anger in the woman's voice made those jagged slices of anger inside her rip a little more.

"I am Fae," Selena answered coldly. "But I am first, and always, a Daughter

of the House of Gaian."

"A witch?" The woman's voice rose to a shriek. "A half-breed wiccanfae has dared intrude on one of our ceremonies, has dared try to pretend she

could be one of us, has dared think she can control the power that belongs to us?""I pretend nothing. I do command the gift now." Power was spiking inside her, painful little flashes of lightning along her nerves."You command nothing, you bitch!"Her body reacted to the word before she realized what she was doing. One moment she was facing the former Lady of the Moon; the next, she was a shadow hound racing across the distance between them, a snarl of fury filling her throat. The woman didn't have time to scream before she leaped, her forelegs hitting the woman in the chest hard enough to knock her rival to the ground. Then she pinned her enemy, her fangs a mere handspan away from the vulnerable throat as the woman screamed and flailed and screamed again.

She realized her enemy's flailing had a purpose when she heard flesh slap boot leather, saw the flash of moonlight on metal. She whipped her head

around, her fangs slashing the woman's right forearm before the knife found its mark. Blood- and the taste of flesh, of prey-filled her mouth. She fought against the shadow hound instinct to rip and tear. This was prey. This was-

Blood sprayed over both of them as the woman flailed again-and the knife

flashed again.

Her jaws closed unforgivingly over the torn forearm until teeth met bone.

One fast, hard twist of her head-and bone snapped.

The knife fell to the ground. The woman screamed. Screamed and screamed.

She released the arm, turned her head so that she and the woman stared at

each other. Blood dripped from her fangs onto the woman's face. She snarled."I yield!" the woman screamed. "I yield I yield I yield!"The throat. So vulnerable. So rich with hot blood. So ...Selena carefully backed away from the woman, her paws leaving bloody prints in the grass. With the scent of blood in the air and the taste of it in her mouth, it took fierce effort to change back to her human form.

She could still taste the blood.

The woman stared up at her, her face pale with shock. "W-what are you?"

Selena looked down at her rival. "What you should have been and never were. The Queen of the Witches."

She walked away, striding toward the center of the clearing. Too much power churned inside her. Too much. She couldn't ground it, not until she'd dealt with these Fae, but if she didn't release some of it and it got away from her...

When she reached the center of the clearing, she raised her voice. "To make