Chapter 8: Escape

Chapter 8 of Variola

Tanya waited impatiently while Sir Fintan went into Connla's room carrying food that looked better than what she had. It seemed like forever until he exited the room and walked down the hall. Once he was gone she slipped over to the heavy oak door. She tried the door knob. The door opened.

A startled Connla looked up from the meal he was nibbling at with a silver spoon held in manacled hands. Sir Fintan had said nothing to him of their plan. Tanya put her finger to her lips then motioned for him to follow her. Nodding, Connla rose, following her down the short hall and into her room.

"Sir Fintan forgot to re-spell the door's lock", Connla whispered as Tanya closed the door to her room.

"On purpose. You must get us out of here now! We have to warn Lord Cormac about what Lord Niall is up to."

Connla nodded. "We'll have to go to Firefly Island. I'm not experienced enough to open a temporary gate at both ends."

Connla began to chant in the elvish tongue. To Tanya it seemed like the chanting took forever. She was sure a whole regiment of Lord Niall's retainers would sense the rising magic and burst into her room before Connla could create the gate. Finally a gate appeared in the room. Tanya heard the alarmed voices of elves as she and Connla jumped through the gate which collapsed behind them.

They fell and rolled on the grass-covered hill, beneath an upright thrust of flat rock under a dark October sky. Tanya moaned from the Faerie gate nausea that still gripped her. Connla struggled to sit up.

Once the gate sickness passed Tanya sat up and held up her right hand with the Danann ring on it's ring finger.

"Time to try this out. -- Danann! Danann! Danann!"

The ring blazed with a bright light then was once again a simple ring.

"Well, you got Father's attention now. So why not use the cell phone in your pocket and fill him in on the details?", Connla suggested.

Tanya looked at her date.

"I'm getting so used to Faerie ways I'm forgetting human ones."

She got out the phone and punched in the Danann's number.

Fifteen minutes after the Mac Aedh elves forced Connla and Tanya through the Faerie gate the other teenagers woke up from the spell that had rendered them unconscious.

"What happened?", Biff said as he sat up.

"Don't know. We were all out cold, man", Jeremy replied.

"Where are Tanya and Connla?", Vanessa asked.

"Tanya! --- Connla! ---- Come out! Come on, this isn't funny", Cindy called.

"Connla had a knife -- I remember", Vanessa said.

"How did he get a knife past the metal detectors? And why did he have one? He's not into gang stuff or anything -- come on, this is Connla the computer geek", Biff said.

"I remember", Jeremy said. "He was in a fighting stance -- like he knew what to do with a knife -- he looked angry. I turned to see what had scared him but -- everything went black."

They struggled to their feet and looked around. Their missing friends were nowhere to be found. They checked the contents of purses and wallets.

"Nothing missing. I have my money and everything", Cindy said.

"Me too", her date said.

"So someone knocked us unconscious -- with what?", Vanessa asked.

"A gas or something. We weren't physically hit", Jeremy replied.

"Yet they stole nothing from us", Biff said.

"Except for two of our friends. Whoever knocked us out took Connla and Tanya", Vanessa said, a shiver running down her spine.

"Tanya and Connla are rich", Cindy said. "Maybe someone kidnapped them for ransom. Maybe they've been getting threats and that's why Connla had the knife."

"So what do we do now?", Vanessa asked.

"Use my cell phone to call the police", Biff replied.

The story told by the four teenagers was so wild that the police officers who responded to the call treated it as a homecoming dance night hoax.

"Making a false claim of a crime that didn't happen can get you into a lot of trouble", one of them kept telling the youths.

Finally the officers agreed to take them to the station to make a formal report. Then the police insisted on giving them breath analyzer tests and put them through separate interrogations. They still thought it was a juvenile joke. Biff used his phone call to call his folks but his parents rushed over to the station without thinking of calling the other parents.

As a result the Swifts and the Dananns received phone calls from the police informing them their children were missing only a short time before the Danann family received Tanya's call informing them about the night's bizarre events. Lord Cormac started giving orders.

"Nora, call the Swifts and let them know that Tanya is OK. Then call the other human-side dwelling elves - tell them to come armed. We must go after Lord Niall before he destroys both his clan and the human race. Coran and I will go to the island and fetch the children."

Lord Cormac and his elder son took just enough time to gather up bright swords before opening a gate and transporting themselves to the hill-topped island in Crystal Lake. As they exited the gate they found themselves facing wary and anxious teenagers. Connla and Tanya gave heartfelt sighs of relief when the Sidhe coming out of the gate turned out to be Connla's father and brother rather than pursuers from Castle Mac Aedh. Once more the ruby eyes of the pendant returned to normal.

"Am I glad to see you two", Tanya blurted out.

She ran over and threw herself into Coran's arms.

"That goes for me too", Connla admitted as his father came over and examined the adolescent's manacled hands.

"Fastened with a complex spell. It may take us days to figure out the counter-spell and free you."

"Oh great!", Connla said.

"You could get a diamond saw and cut them off", Tanya suggested.

The Sidh lord and his sons stared at Tanya.

"Well a diamond saw will cut regular titanium. It'll probably work on elf-silver too."

"Right now getting Connla unbound is not high on our priority list. We're taking you two home then we and our neighbors are going hunting for Niall Mac Aedh-- hopefully before it is too late."

Lord Cormac opened the gate in the flat rock set into the hill and they rushed through to find themselves in the Danann living room surrounded by Shane and Caitlin Silverleaf, Groga and Alainn Moonglow, the Greenwood twins, Lady Nora, and Deirdre. All but Lady Nora wore sensible clothes in dark hues with serious swords buckled about slender waists. Dawn and Dylan Greenwood carried large bows with quivers of sharp arrows strapped across their shoulders.

"Celtic Bards is having to continue a gig at The Cuckoo House without me", Dylan said.

"If we don't stop Lord Niall and his terrorist buddies Celtic Bards may not live long enough to play very many more gigs", Lord Cormac replied.

"T'is that serious?", Dylan said.

"Yes. Lady Nora will take Tanya home and work at setting Connla free. The rest of us are going to gate over to Lord Niall's warehouse. I hope we find the conspirators still there."

"I'm not going home. I'm going with you, Lord Cormac", Tanya said.

"You will do no such thing. This is no game. Tis deadly serious."

"And I'm the only one who might be able to stop Lord Niall. He might listen to me."

"Too dangerous", Lord Cormac insisted.

"We're talking about my whole species dying -- including the children. You can't put my safety above that of the whole human race."

"We can stop him, Tanya", Coran said.

"Can you? With force? Once he knows you're near he'll gate out and release the virus before you can stop him. Are you sure you can stop him before he does? If I'm there - he may hesitate."

Tanya passion showed in her hoarse voice and clenched fists.

"I hate to agree with the child, but from what I know of Lord Niall's feelings toward Tanya she may be right", Dylan said.

"I don't like using Tanya as a weapon against him", Lord Cormac said.

"But she may be the best weapon we have, Sir", Shane chimed in.

"OK- OK - You win. Tanya -- do what we tell you. No grandstanding."

"No grandstanding", Tanya agreed.