sinn!"
The faerie lord looked at her and gave her a grim smile as he reached out and took hold of Cridedub by the arms. A violent spasm rocked her body, as her back arched and her head snapped back. The golden halo burst into a shower of sparks, and Selgach Mor flew off the pillar. In the same instant, Medb's hands ripped apart and she was hurled backwards off her feet. She landed supine then rolled over onto her stomach.
"Break the circle!"
"Scatter!" Cucath cried, and the circle disintegrated as the cats ran for the safety of the surrounding grove. The energy holding the gate open dissipated and the shimmering curtain of air tried to close, but when it encountered the faerie lord it stopped as if being help bodily apart.
She leapt to her feet, snatched up her sword, and pulled the dirk from her belt, but she knew fighting Finn Bheara directly would be futile. Instead, she ran around to the back of the pillars to find the Queen. The cat had been tossed a good six feet behind her pedestal, but she was on her feet, staggering a bit yet apparently unharmed.
"Are you all right?"
Selgach Mor shook her head in the way of cats trying to dislodge a foreign body, moving so fast that even Medb saw only a furry blur. Then she looked up. "I will be fine. Do not wait for me."
Medb nodded and hurried back inside the arc of pillars. The Council members had remained along with their Herald, observing Finn Bheara's actions. She felt surprised to find him still there, when she would have expected him to take Cridedub back into the Otherworld. In fact, he had moved some distance in front of the gate. Even as she pondered how to confront him, his reason for staying became evident: a spot of blinding-bright light appeared where Cridedub's navel would have been, and began to slowly expand into a disc.
"Damnaigh." A smoky-gray tentacle leisurely poked through and waved about, as if the being on the other side probed to see what it could find.
Her blood froze as her skin prickled and her mind went numb. She recognized it at once. "Anam naofa bheith ionam!"
With a sound like heavy cloth being ripped apart, the being pushed the disc further open as half a dozen more tentacles forced their way through. They thrashed around like angry snakes looking for targets to strike, and they drew closer to the Council members.
Snapping out of her hysterical paralysis, she turned to Cucath. "Run for your lives!"
"Evacuate!" the huge tabby cried, and the cats scrambled off the pillars under the flailing tentacles. One lashed out and caught the Herald as he ran between the pedestals. He thrashed about at first, howling and spitting in rage, but then went limp as if all his energy had been sucked away. Cucath leapt up and caught the tentacle with his forepaws; he then proceeded to savagely bite as he raked with his back claws. She ran over and, swinging her slashing sword, severed the tentacle just above the old tom's head. It vanished in a puff of gray, foul-smelling mist as the two cats fell to the ground. Cucath sprinted away and she scooped up the Herald, fending off more tentacles with her sword. One caught her by one of the two waist-long braids on either side of her head, and she felt it siphoning off her life energy. She severed the tentacle with a single swipe and raced after the scarred tabby. They both retreated behind the Queen's pillar, where she stopped and leaned against it as she caught her breath.
She felt the Herald's body; the spark of life seemed very dim, but had not been extinguished. Setting her sword against the pillar, she held the cat in both hands and began to sing. There were no words, just an eerie but beautiful harmony that seemed impossible for a human throat to match. As she sang, she channeled energy from the earth into the feline body; it glowed orange for a few moments, which disappeared as she fell silent. The Herald's heart beat strongly again, and in moments he opened his blue eyes and looked around.
She set him down as Cucath came bounding up to her. "In Bast's name, what is it?"
The former queen shuddered as her adrenaline rush subsided. "An Archon, a Being from Between the Spheres. It feeds on misery and suffering, and has the power to alter reality as It sees fit. Finn Bheara is using Cridedub as a conduit for It to enter our Sphere."
"You mean, he is sacrificing one of his own people to summon it here?" Cucath's voice sounded filled with disbelief. "That is monstrous!"
"He is infamous for his ruthless manner."
"We must close the gate before the Archon can gain a foothold," Selgach Mor said as she sauntered closer.
The Queen's words turned her fear into irritation, and she scowled. "I know! But I have no idea how we can do it."
"There are a thousand cats in the grove around us, awaiting my signal to attack," Cucath growled.
"Were it a thousand thousand thousand, it would not be enough. Nothing in this world can harm an Archon."
"Should not the gate have closed when the circle broke?"
"Finn Bheara holds it open. We must defeat him first. If we can break his hold on the bansidh and force him back into the Magh Mor, the summoning gate will close on its own, and the conduit he opened for the Archon should do the same."
"Then why do we delay? Let's have at him!"
She could appreciate his zeal; she wanted to fight as well. But: "Easier said than done, Battle-Hound. Finn Bheara is the third most powerful of the Daoine Sidhe, after Mab the High Queen, and the Amadan Mor. Even preoccupied as he is, he would be more than a match for all of us together. The only way I can think of at the moment is to surprise him. If I can get around behind him, I can stab him with this--" She laid a hand on the hilt of her dirk. "Its steel blade will shatter his power, allowing me to overcome him by physical strength. At least, I hope so; he is exceptionally strong for a Daoine Sidhe.
"But as long as he holds Cridedub, he can use the Archon as a shield. I will need you and your people to keep him distracted."
"So as you say," the Queen replied in a deep rumbling growl, "so let it be done."
Cucath turned to the Herald and yowled with glee. "Cry Havoc, and let slip the cats of war!"
The Siamese caterwauled in reply and ran off to summon the legion.
"Do not press the attack too closely; you will lose too many of your people needlessly."
The Queen favored her with a half-lidded glare. "Just concern yourself with your task, and leave us to do what we must."
"As you wish." Then she turned towards Cucath. "Run swift, fight hard, and die well, Battle-Hound."
The scarred tom grinned and twitched his ears. "May the bosom of the Great Mother receive you warmly, Imperious Medb."
She nodded and was about to turn away when movement caught her eye. From out of the grove came a thousand furry bodies marching in a broad arc. Cucath fell into formation in the middle, with the other Council members, and Selgach Mor slipped in at their head. The Council leader yowled a bloodthirsty battle cry, which the others answered, and they followed their Queen into the assembly area.
As she worked her way around the perimeter of the grove, she watched the cat army so she could time her own actions with theirs. As the feline mass approached the arc of the pillars, the Queen leapt to the top of her pedestal to confront their adversaries.
"You are trespassing on ground sacred to the Feline Race." The legion passed between and around the pillars, and formed a half-circle in front of the Daoine Sidhe. "Leave, now; return to your world, or face our wrath."
Finn Bheara declined to respond, and the Archon could not. It simply stretched out its tentacles, now triple the number before, to seize her. In retaliation, her eyes glowed a fiery orange, and a shield of fire appeared between her and the Archon. She then hissed, and streamers of flame shot out from the center towards the Outre Being. It spread its tentacles to avoid the conflagration.
At that moment, Cucath yowled, "Charge!" and the semicircle of cats surged forward in sequential waves. They converged on the Archon, throwing themselves at it as they leapt to grapple tentacles, clawing, biting, and raking like demonic furballs. The Archon fought back, seizing cats, sucking out their lifeforce, then tossing them aside like discard
ed rags, while others it pounded, smacked, and pummeled, or knocked aside with crushing force. Medb was nearly hit by an Egyptian Mau sent flying across the grove towards her. And yet the cats kept coming, heedless to the danger, and those who recovered their strength and wits after the blows they received hurled themselves into the fray again. Though she revealed in the carnage of battle herself, she felt shocked by the savagery and total abandon by which the cats fought.
Still, the assault allowed her to get into position sooner than would otherwise have been possible. If Finn Bheara knew what she was up to, there was nothing he could do to stop it. The main problem was that the gate she had opened stood directly behind him, so she could not approach him from that way. She would have to come in from the side. She discarded her long sword, being useless in such close quarters, and instead pulled out her dirk. She waited until the faerie lord looked away from her, then she dashed towards him. She skidded to a halt between him and the gate, and stabbed him underhanded in his right kidney.
He arched his back and cried out. His appearance flickered and melted away to reveal a person taller than before, but much leaner, dressed in a long, flowing, sumptuous robe of silver-colored silk and crowned with a diadem carved from a diaphanous blue crystal studded with diamonds. His hair had turned white-gold and hung long and straight, while his eyes shined like silver