83. Duelled

It was another five days before both Kelly and Keira were confident they'd learned the counter-spell.

In the meantime, things around castle Brádaigh were fairly quiet. Maeve remained worried about our various ongoing problems, but she was at least relieved to know her husband was alive.

Colm wound up leaving, he had a courier take him back to the royal palace so he could deliver his report in person. When Colm left, mother sent with him a letter asking the king for help in convincing the Ceallaighs to release her husband.

Mother also dispatched her own courier to the Ceallaigh stronghold, with a letter pleading for Connor's release. It explained that Aengus was behind the assassination, and that Aengus tried to have me killed too. There was no guarantee either letter would have much success, but she had to try.

While the twins studied and prepared to defend against Keenan's mind magic, I reviewed Maeve's map of castle Griofa again. I figured this time I'd take us to the nearer location. It was in a grove of trees about two leagues from the castle.

There was a good chance it would be guarded, but I figured they wouldn't be expecting us there. If they'd followed our trail, they'd be more worried about the further location. And anyways, since I didn't seem to be disoriented after crossing through the veil anymore I'd be ready with a shield spell regardless.

I also spent some time reading up on auras and how to see them. Of course I didn't need to learn that, but figuring out how to see them also gave me what I needed to know to let me stop seeing them. Once I understood it, it only took about a day of practice and I could turn it on and off at will. I just had to focus on it and blink my eyes.

When Kelly and Keira finally announced they'd both learned the spell to protect them from Keenan's mind magic, the three of us faced another challenge. We had to convince Maeve to let the three of us go back to Griofa without any military escort.

"We won't be spending days marching through the woods this time mother," I explained. "I know my way around Griofa and the forest to the east. We can teleport directly where we want to go. The whole trip shouldn't take us more than a day."

Kelly nodded, "Having soldiers with us isn't going to make any safer. They'll just slow us down."

Maeve took a deep breath then sighed, "Can I at least send Feichin with you? You were pleased with his help on your last outing."

I shook my head, "He was incredibly helpful last time because we were travelling on foot through unfamiliar woods. He did a great job getting us there. He wasn't actually much help getting us back, and we're going to be travelling the same way this time. It's all magic, we won't need to wander around through the woods."

Mother sighed and frowned, but she'd run out of arguments. She finally relented, "Very well. It seems I have very little say at all any more in how my daughter chooses to risk her life."

"Sorry mom," I said, fighting a smirk. "Kids just grow up so fast these days."

She gave me a very-not-amused look, but she seemed resigned to letting us go.

Before sunrise the following morning, the three of us were back in the meadow in the south forest standing near the garrison.

We decided to skip the traditional travelling clothes this time and just dressed up in our Earth clothes. Jeans, running shoes, t-shirts, and jackets. I had a dozen squares of parchment in my jacket pocket, along with the vial of Keira's blood. That way I'd be able to cast the tracking spell as we got closer, and sort of home in on Keenan wherever he was in the castle.

I moved around in the pre-dawn light till I found the spot, and Kelly and Keira took their positions on either side of me. The whole thing almost felt routine now, we'd done it so many times over the past few weeks. As the first flickers of sun came over the horizon I felt the veil grow weaker, and I worked the spell then pulled the three of us through.

By now I figured I was either used to pushing through the veil, or it just was another aspect of Taralynn's gift. The three of us came out the other side in the small grove of trees and I immediately brought up my shield.

A couple seconds later a half dozen crossbow bolts shattered as they struck it.

The six soldiers stood there looking stunned, obviously they'd been told that anyone coming through the waypoint would be disoriented for at least ten or fifteen seconds. Four of them started to reload as fast as they could, the other two pulled out their swords and charged. They bounced off my barrier, and I dropped them both with sleep spells.

The other four slumped over asleep as well, as Kelly and Keira finally got their bearings and cast their sleep spells too.

"Well that worked out ok?" Kelly asked quietly. Her voice was a blend of excitement and anxiety.

"So far so good," I said as I glanced around. "How much did you put into the sleep spells, how long will these guys stay out?"

Keira replied "Seven or eight hours for mine."

"Me too," Kelly added.

I'd done about the same, which meant we had all day before we'd have to worry about dealing with them again.

Before we did anything else, I moved to the six unconscious men. I used my magical sense to check them, and sure enough they were all influenced by control spells.

It took a few minutes as I did one after another, dispelling the magic on each man. "Ok, they were all under control spells but I've dispelled that. So when they wake they'll hopefully be loyal to the clann again."

"What's the next step?" Keira asked.

"I'll teleport the three of us over to a spot in the woods where Colm and I hid for a while. There's a pretty good view of the main gate, we can hide there and figure out our next move."

Kelly shook her head, "You don't have to teleport us babe. Me and Keira can do it ourselves now, remember? We learned the spell two years ago, now we're finally strong enough to use it."

I frowned, "You don't know where we're going though, and the spell's not accurate enough at this range to just describe it to you."

"You go first Tegan," Keira stated. "We can follow you."

That surprised me. "Oh? How?"

Kelly replied, "I'll just do a simple scrying spell for you, then teleport in next to you. Assuming you don't try and block me, it'll work fine."

Keira added, "And thanks to our connection, wherever one of us goes, the other can always follow."

I smiled, "Ok that's perfect."

A minute later I was in the woods about two hundred and fifty meters north-east of the castle, with a view of the main gates. A minute or so after that Kelly appeared nearby, and Keira joined us a moment later.

I said softly, "Ok. So now we get to the long boring part. We'll be waiting here a while, and using the tracking spell now and then to keep an eye on Keenan. When it looks like we'll have some time alone with him, we make our move."

The twins moved to either side of me as all three of us settled in to watch the castle.

As we got comfortable, Keira asked quietly "And when he's alone? What's the plan?"

"I'll teleport first since I'll have the view on him from the spell. I'll draw his attention, like a diversion? He'll probably try to attack or enspell me, I'll block his magic and try and get him instead. I'll hold back though, like I won't let him know what I can really do. It probably won't work, I'm assuming he won't be that easy to beat."

I smiled, "That's where you two come in. Give me about five or ten seconds, then you both teleport in after me, and both of you try and hit him with sleep spells? He'll probably be able to defend against that too, but who knows we might get lucky. Probably not though, but you two are like, the secondary diversion."

They both nodded quietly as they listened.

I took a breath and finished, "So he'll think my attack is the fake and you two are the cavalry. When he's distracted defending against both of you at once, then I'll hit him with all I have. That should do it, I think. He'll be dealing with the two of you, he won't be expecting a serious attack from me."

They glanced at each other, and Keira asked "Not to be defeatist or whatever, but what do we do if things go wrong?"

"Let's hope that doesn't happen," I sighed. "If it does though, if things go bad we fall back to the glade where we arrived. You can both teleport straight back there right?"

Both nodded. Kelly said "I agree, we hope this all works. But if not, it's good we have an escape plan."

We remained there for a few hours. I had the stack of parchment with me and the vial of Keira's blood. Every half hour or so I cast the tracking spell to check on Keenan.

Most of the morning he was surrounded by soldiers, or in places too cramped for me and the twins to teleport in and attack him together. It wasn't till around midday that we got our chance.

I whispered to the twins, "Ok I think this is it. He's in the dining hall and he's alone. He's having lunch and it looks like he doesn't let his subordinates eat with him. It's a big open space, plenty of room for all of us to teleport into."

Kelly and Keira both nodded, they were ready to go.

My heart was starting to race and I'm sure theirs were too. I realized, this might have been the first time I was actually going to attack someone. I'd been in fights before, but it had always been other people making the first move and I usually focused on defence.

I took a few deep breaths, then focused and cast the spell.

Suddenly I was in the dining hall. Keenan was sitting at the table with a mug of ale and a plate of food before him. He didn't seem at all shocked by my sudden appearance.

"Well well, the 'legendary' Tegan Vale has finally returned," he stated with a smile. His voice was deep and strong, and full of confidence. "No knight of the realm with you this time?"

I didn't bother engaging him in conversation, I immediately tried casting a sleep spell at him. I didn't put much into it, and I wasn't surprised when it had no effect on him.

"Tsk tsk," he shook his head. "That was a weak effort, girl. All the stories I've heard said you're much stronger than that."

Suddenly Kelly was standing a meter my left, and she launched her sleep spell at him before he could comment on her arrival. Then Keira was with us, two meters to my right. She immediately cast the same spell at her grandfather.

Neither of their attempts got through either, and Keenan stood up. He shook his head as he sighed, "Betrayed by own flesh and blood."

He didn't seem surprised to see them, and he didn't seem surprised that they could teleport. Intuition told me something was wrong, but I tried to hit him with my modified transformation spell like we'd planned. I put way more power into it than should have been necessary, just to be sure.

The spell failed, and I realized the magic wasn't even getting through to him. There was no tell-tale light in his eyes, either from our magic or his. He wasn't casting defensive spells, something else was blocking our attacks.

Keenan chuckled, "Ah, now that's more like it. That's the kind of strength I'd expect from a so-called legend."

The twins glanced at each other and at me, then both tried again, flinging more magic at their grandfather.

Rather than trying another attack, I used my magical sense and that's when I saw it. He had a sort of ostentatious amulet hanging around his neck, and it was absolutely ablaze with magical energy. It was some kind of defensive talisman, like an anti-magic shield. Our attacks weren't going to get through as long as he was wearing that.

Keenan had moved around the table and was now only a few paces away. He was still talking, "You have the strength child, but not the knowledge. Using blood-magic tracking spells?" He laughed and shook his head. "So very amateur. You didn't even stop to think that it can work both ways."

He raised his hands and his eyes flared. I immediately blocked his spell, but I could tell he was trying to use mind control again.

My heart was pounding even harder now. I had no idea how much he knew but if he already knew the twins were fully fae and he knew how we'd been tracking him, then he might know everything else.

And while I might have been able to burn through his amulet's defences if I kept pouring power into my spells, it would probably take too long if I was constantly dispelling his attacks. And the twins might not be able to stand up against him in the meantime.

Suddenly it felt like we'd walked into a trap and I knew my plan wasn't going to work. Before he could try again to enspell me I said to the twins "Fall back!"

I saw them both nodd, and I cast my teleport spell to get myself clear.

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