Chapter 9: Confrontation

Chapter 9 of variola

In the isolated lab at the back of his warehouse Niall Mac Aedh and the four Sons of Gaea conspirators sat looking at a crate full of unmarked aerosol canisters, sophisticated ones with time release mechanisms.

"There's been a change of plans", Lord Niall said.

"What kind of change?", Leonard asked.

The technician's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"It's too dangerous to use airplanes to transport the virus. The canisters would not make it through airport security. And today I learned the FBI -- and some others -- are closer on our trail than we suspected. We won't be able to drive out of this city with the virus either."

"So how do you propose we get the stuff to the target cities?", Jimbo muttered.

"I have private transportation that will elude security checks and police. I'll be able to take all of the canisters to the target sites and release the virus myself.”

'And you guys are now expendable.'

"That sucks! Why should we trust you? Take us with you on this private transportation", Leonard demanded.

"Perhaps I will take you with me, Leonard, after all", Lord Niall said with a feral grin.

'There are creatures in Faerie who would enjoy giving the likes of this fanatic a lingering death.'

Greg and Clyde looked from one angry co-conspirator to another. They wanted only to stay out of the dispute. If the white-haired dude wanted to take all the risk on himself, let him.

"I think you should take at least Leonard and myself with you", Jimbo said.

Niall Mac Aedh did not respond. He stood motionless as if listening to something the others could not hear.

"We're not alone. Someone has entered the warehouse", he whispered.

"Heard nothing. It's probably just the night guard", Jimbo said.

"FBI?", Leonard asked.

"My people. You'll end up wishing it were the FBI."

The elves entered the warehouse silently. It was the opening of a temporary gate that alerted Lord Niall to their presence. Coran held his hand to Tanya's lips to warn her to be still as they looked around, weapons held ready.

A night guard came around a stack of fine wines packed in cases and stopped. His mouth opened and his hand went to the holster of his gun when he saw nine elves holding swords or drawn bows. Coran stepped in front of Tanya to shield her. Again no one noticed the ruby eyes on her pendant that glowed.

"Do not even think of drawing that gun", Lord Cormac said as the elves surrounded the guard, swords at his throat. "Get out of here. This is too dangerous a place to be."

He touched the guard's mind with a powerful compulsion. The guard left his gun in his holster and walked towards the front door of the warehouse.

"He'll call the police once the compulsion wears off", Groga whispered.

"By then it will be over one way or another", Lord Cormac replied.

They made their way to the back of the warehouse where they found the door to the lab.

'Lord Niall and four others, all human', Lord Cormac said telepathically to the other elves.

"Is he behind that door?", Tanya whispered.

Lord Cormac nodded.

"Get me in there so I can talk to him."

"Too dangerous. There's are four others -- four desperate and dangerous men", Cormac Danann replied.

"Lord Niall will protect me. It's that or he escapes with the virus - or you kill him now."

Lord Cormac again communicated silently with the elves. Then he nodded. With a combined effort they created a temporary gate and Tanya walked through it.

"What the hell! How 'd she get here?", Jimbo cried when a spiky-haired girl wearing a black jacket and jeans walked out of a glowing circle of light into the closed room.

As the circle of light faded the girl doubled over.

"I've been through entirely too many gates tonight. My stomach is unhappy", she complained.

Niall Mac Aedh stared in horror.

"How did you escape, Tanya?", he hissed.

"You always did underestimate humans, Lord Niall", Tanya said.

She glanced around the room at the startled men and the crate full of aerosol cans. While everyone was still in a state of confusion Tanya edged closer to the canisters.

"So this is where you did your dirty work. This is where you developed the virus to kill my people."

"Actually your own government developed this virus. We just borrowed it", Lord Niall replied. "Just what did you hope to accomplish by coming in here?"

"I thought maybe you wouldn't be so anxious to release this stuff if I'm nearby."

"Brave -- but foolish. I can grab some and gate to London or Moscow or Paris before your buddies can get in here."

"You crazy, Niall? A punk brat appears in a locked room from out of nowhere and you bandy words with her like we it's a tea party", Leonard snarled.

The others stared at Lord Niall and Leonard. Tanya used that moment to rush over and grab one of the canisters, backing away from them with it in her hands.

"Don't try to get it, Lord Niall. -- all of you -- If anyone comes close to me I will release the virus - now!"

The faces of the four humans grew white.

"You don't want to die that way, Tanya", Lord Niall said in a low voice.

"I don't want to die at all. But I'm willing to die to save the rest of the world. -- Let's see. -- Set this timer to zero. If I release the spray it will go off at once now, I believe."

While Tanya fiddled with the aerosol can Leonard pulled out his 38. Lord Niall saw. Before Leonard could pull the trigger he let loose a bolt of elvish energy that hit the technician and knocked him to the floor. A smoking hole in his dark sweater showed where the bolt had hit. The 38 had melted.

The remaining three men jumped to their feet, eyes full of panic. They stared at the white-haired man whose green eyes now blazed and at the teenager with a canister of deadly virus in her hands. Tanya smiled.

"Idiots. You thought he was just another crazy dreamer - wanting to save the planet for the poor beasties. -- You fools! He's not even human. He just hates people and wants to destroy us. I doubt he meant for you guys to live once he was done."

"Is -- is she for real?", Jimbo stammered.

"Unfortunately for you traitors to your own kind, she is", Lord Niall said as he dropped his glamour and allowed the terrified Sons of Gaea to see him as he truly was.

It was the last thing they ever saw. Even as cries and gasps of fear left their mouths Lord Niall reached out magically and, one by one, stopped their beating hearts. There were cries of pain then they slumped to the floor, gasped for air, and died.

"Now - it is just you and me, Tanya. And I can't let you kill yourself", Lord Niall said.

Moving so fast Tanya could barely see him the Sidh lord lept to her side, grabbed her hard, and wrested the virus-containing canister from her hands. He moved away from her and readjusted the timer to twenty minutes. He did not notice the glowing ruby eyes that once more dimmed.

"I'm out of here. Your buddies will be coming any moment now and I've got at least one load of virus to deliver."

"You can't! They'll destroy you and all of your clan -- your wife, everyone. You can't hate us enough to let that horrible disease loose among us."

Lord Niall glared at Tanya. His eyes blazed and his fine white hair billowed about in waves. A terrified Tanya stood still, shuddering. But she continued her plea.

"What about the children, Lord Niall? I thought the Sidhe don't hurt children. That vicious stuff will kill the babies and children first. None of them have ever been vaccinated. They have no immunity to smallpox."

Lord Niall's emerald eyes blazed even brighter as the thought he had been repressing deep within his subconscious rushed in, propelled by Tanya's anguished words. A vision overcame him -- babies and small children, their tiny bodies covered in angry red spots, writhing in pain as blood poured out of little noses and mouths.

The Sidhe's affection for children is not mere sentiment or fashion. It is hard-wired into their very being. As the horrific vision washed over the lord he bent over and retched. As horrible as the sight of a puking Sidh lord was, a relieved Tanya knew she had won.

Once he'd finished retching, Lord Niall replaced the canister in the crate with the others. He grabbed Tanya and pulled her to the opposite side of the room.

"Stay behind me. Use my body as a shield. It's going to get hot in here!"

Tanya obeyed. The Sidh lord began to chant. He raised a ball of intense bale fire then launched it at the canisters of virus, the four bodies, and the contents of that side of the lab. Even with his body to shield her Tanya felt a terrifying rush of heat as the fire destroyed everything it touched.

"We must leave--fast", Niall Mac Aedh told Tanya.

He raised yet another Faerie gate and pulled the coughing teenager through it as the nine elves burst into the engulfed room.

The elves immediately backed out of the flaming room.

"What has he done?", Coran asked.

"I think he destroyed it all. Then he gated out with Tanya", Lord Cormac said.

"So -- Where has he taken her?', Dylan wondered.

Tanya was surprised to find herself standing beside Lord Niall on the grass-covered hill of Firefly Island. Lord Niall sat down on the chill grass and buried his head in his hands.

"The others will figure out where I've taken you and come to your rescue soon enough", he told Tanya in a shaky voice. "The virus is gone. I destroyed all of it. Now only your own government has any of it, if that makes you sleep easier."

He paused a moment, then spoke in an anguished whisper.

"I'm through, Tanya. I've -- gone too far this time. I've lost everything."

Tanya sat down beside Lord Niall. She put an arm around his shoulders, startled to discover he was trembling. He turned his beautiful face towards her and she saw the gleam of silvery tears on his cheeks.

"You did not destroy humankind. You did not kill the children. You could not do it. I don't think you've lost everything, Lord Niall. I think you won more than you lost."

She wrapped her arms about him and laid her head on his shaking shoulder.

"My one true to the end friend is a human child", Lord Niall murmured, the irony of it not lost on him.

That was how the nine elf warriors found them a short while later. A sad look crossed Cormac Danann's face when he saw the elf and the punk teenager huddled together. But he led the others purposefully toward the defeated Lord Niall.

"Lord Niall Mac Aedh -- I, Lord Cormac Danann arrest you for crimes against humanity in the name of Queen Mab and King Finvena. You will be taken to Knockma Hill and imprisoned there to await the Royal Tribunal and its judgment on you."

Lord Niall sat up to face seven drawn swords and two drawn bows. He stood up, still shaking, then somehow pulled himself together.

"You will not need your weapons. I will not resist arrest", he said. "Oh -- The virus is gone. I destroyed it all, along with the bodies of the conspirators."

"Eric Johanson?", Lord Cormac asked.

"He died earlier -- quite horribly", Lord Niall admitted. "His body was also destroyed."

"Seven of us should be enough to escort Lord Niall to Knockma Hill. My son and I will make sure Tanya gets home safely", Lord Cormac told the others.

They nodded. They opened up the Firefly Island gate and, with Lord Niall in their midst, stepped through it into Faerie.

Tanya ran over to her protector and her counselor and collapsed into their arms, shaking like a leaf. Both men held her until the trembling stopped.

"You were incredibly brave, Tanya -- and resourceful if perhaps a bit reckless", Lord Cormac told her.

"I wasn't brave. I was terrified and desperate."

"Doing what you have to do when you are terrified is what brave is all about", Coran replied.

"Did you guys hear -- what was happening?", Tanya asked.

"Oh yes. We monitored what was going on the whole time. You've no idea how many times we almost came into the locked room to intervene", Lord Cormac replied.

"Why didn't you?"

"I wanted to give Lord Niall the chance to do the right thing -- for the sake of the friendship we once shared."

"And he did! In the end he destroyed the virus", Tanya said.

"Yes, but it may not be enough to save him", Coran said.

"What do you mean? What's going to happen to him?"

"He will be tried before the King and Queen of Faerie. They will decide his fate. As grave as his attempted offense was -- it could be death", Lord Cormac told Tanya.

"No! He didn't use the virus! The only ones he killed were five human traitors who deserved to die. That he decided to destroy the virus has to count for something", she wailed.

"You really care about Lord Niall Mac Aedh, don't you?", Lord Cormac asked.

"He -- did try to save my life. And he couldn't kill the children in the end. I think there is still good in him, underneath all the hate and the anger."

"The Royal Tribunal process allows witnesses to come forward and speak for the accused. Do you want to testify for him, to beg for mercy for him?", Lord Cormac asked.

"Oh yes. Please say that I can. I know he deserves punishment -- but not death."

"Very well. We'll arrange for you to appear before the court as a witness. Now let's get you home. Lady Nora told your parents you were OK but they're probably frantic anyway."

"Probably", Tanya said.

Tanya looked at the flat rock she knew would soon become an active Faerie gate.

"I suppose I have to go through one more Faerie gate", she moaned.

"Afraid so. There's already been too many lost people who've reappeared on this island -- and with the FBI getting so close to Lord Niall --"

Tanya sighed.

"Mr. Danann, you're a biologist -- right? Why not develop some kind of Faerie medicine to protect humans from Faerie gate sickness?", Tanya said as Cormac Danann began to chant the gate open.

"Maybe I will", Coran replied with a smile.

He took Tanya's hand and led her into the discomfort of the shining gate.