Page 14 of Kings and Monsters

Old paths, through the moor, and to the tunnels to the Court, to her dungeons.

"Why are you helping me?"

Revenge…revenge…revenge, the woman chanted, and the wandering ghosts echoed it in a chorus. Rosa's boots began to sink when they neared the edges of the moor. Through the midnight gloom and the mist rising from the grounds, Rosa could make out the pale figures waiting for her.

They know the way. They want to help you too. Take my hand and your heartache will be over, sweet girl, sweet Rosa,the woman said, stretching her pale hand towards her. A part of her knew that she should wake up Merlin and Bleddyn and that they would worry if they found her missing. She didn't want torisk the ghosts changing their minds to help her, and she needed to find Balthasar. She took the woman's hand. Warmth seemed to leech out of her hand as the woman's cold fingers clasped around it.

Good girl, come, come, the woman crooned and led her deeper into the moor.

Rosa was warm, hazy, and terribly tired, but she followed her, pulled along a path she couldn't see. A sound was coming from far away, a voice she knew. She turned back towards it. A man was following in the distance, shining with light as he came toward them. The woman and their companions hissed and surrounded Rosa, pressing in tightly. The man was closer now. He had hair like fire that matched the heat of anger in his eyes.

"You will give back what is mine, creatures, or I will take her by force," he said and drew his sword. Rosa covered her eyes, and the wraiths hissed again at the brightness of the blade that glowed like starlight. Something was important about the blade, something that Rosa knew she should remember.

You have no right to her. Blood you are not. Lover you are not, the woman hissed.

"Through the ancient ties of king, blood, and land, this woman is my subject and under my protection. I ask you to give her back before I have to take her." The shining man raised his sword as the creatures drew in. The ghostly hands that had been holding Rosa let her go, and she slumped to her knees on the marshy ground, lacking the energy to stand.

The first wraith screeched and flew towards him, a sword of mist in its hand. The man's sword met it and knocked the wraith back.

How, the woman's beautiful face changed to a decomposed horror of black teeth and rotted eyes.

"I have been blessed by Christian priests and pagan goddesses alike. I have lived on the borderlands of death fora millennia, and I have no fear of you, creature of death and despair. Now, release her or I'll send you to your eternity," the man said, raising his sword.

Rosa covered her ears as the wraiths shrieked in one terrifying voice and vanished into the moors. Finally free of their influence, Rosa fell onto her hands and dry heaved.

"It's okay, Rosa. I got you, lass. Christ, you're freezing." Strong, warm arms came around her and helped her stand.

"A-Arthur," she mumbled through numb lips.

"Shhh, you're okay now. Let's get you back to a fire." Rosa tried to move, but her heavy feet refused to hold her. Arthur sheathed Excalibur and lifted her up in one easy move. A part of her knew she'd be embarrassed about it later, but Rosa clung to him, shaking with fear and cold.

"W-what were those things?"

"Sluagh or something of their ilk. The restless dead trying to steal your warmth and life," he explained. They cleared the marshy ground and made it to the gardens without anything else trying to attack them.

"What the ever-living fuck is going on?" Merlin snapped from the trees. His hair was wild from sleep, his sword drawn.

"Calm down and help me. She's half frozen," Arthur said and set Rosa on her feet. She collapsed into Merlin's arms, and he enfolded her in his warm smell of tobacco and spice.

"They told me they could take me to Bal," she sobbed.

"Sluagh had her. Don't worry. I scared them off," Arthur said.

Merlin swore long and elaborately before rubbing her back. "Crazy girl, you shouldn't have been able to see them at all, let alone be able to hear them."

"Wylt witchy woo," she mumbled.

"Bloody hell. You're okay, little one. Come on, let's get you warm," Merlin said and helped her back to the fire. He was piling blankets over her when Bleddyn appeared.

"I found them. It's okay. She's in one piece," Merlin said.

"You have a knack for attracting the worst in the Aos Si," Eirianwen commented from where she was perched on the top of a broken wall.

"Yeah, I'm lucky that way," Rosa said, and feeling began to spread through her. Bleddyn crouched down beside her and took her face in her hands. He looked in her eyes for a long time. Rosa still wasn't used to his new appearance and the power that burned under his skin.

"I'm fine, Bleddyn. Shook up and feeling like an idiot only," she tried to reassure him.

"There doesn't seem to be any of their influence on you," he said, once he was satisfied.

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