Page 69 of Rise of the Morrigan

35

How had heallowed it to happen? One single night, lured away by a mystic creature... she wasn't human, she couldn't have been human. The glow about her when she'd appeared. The power he'd felt coursing between their bodies as they united beneath the moonlight as it pierced the canopy of the forest, barely illuminating her perfect body.

And he returned to find Ulster aflame, Queen Mebd having likely slain his ailing king...

It was his worst fear...

Cú Chulainn crushed a boulder with his blade. So many nights without so much as a hint of her armies on the horizon... and now, he abandons his patrol for a single night, one night of pleasure and bliss...

This was his punishment. It was what he'd deserved for betraying Emer for the sake of an alluring woman, the strange creature who'd captured his passions in an instant.

How could he have been so weak... how could he have ever succumbed to such a sensual temptation... helovedhis wife. But even as he regretted it he couldn't cast this strange beauty from his mind.

Had Queen Mebd sent this woman to him, to distract him for a night? It was such an unlikely coincidence Cú Chulainn didn't think it possible it had been purely a matter of bad luck. This was one of two things—a scheme concocted by Mebd, or a punishment afflicted upon him by the gods...

After all, the goddess, the Morrigan, hadblessedhis marriage... she must have been angered he'd betrayed his wife...

How could I have been such a fool!

Cú Chulainn gripped his broadsword by the hilt. Could he storm Ulster and re-claim the city? What would be the point? How many lives had been lost already? He could only pray Emer was still alive. She likely would be. She wasn't a threat to Mebd's warriors. But if Mebd realized she washiswife...

Cú Chulainn shuddered at the thought. Mebd would use Emer as leverage. If he assaulted the city head-on all she had to do was bring out Emer, a knife to her throat, and compel him to lay down his sword. And he'd gladly do it. He hated the fact he hadn't been faithful to his wife. He regretted the fact he'd neglected her desires for so long. But he would gladly die, if it came to that, to spare her life.

Of course, there was the possibility Emer was unharmed. He'd lived with her in what was once Forgall's fortress. While it wouldn't stand forever against Mebd's army, the fortress wouldn't be Mebd's first target, either. Presumably, once she'd claimed Ulster and ousted Conchobar, she'd have other more pressing matters to attend to before concerning herself with the fortress. Eventually, she'd want to likely install one of her own nobles or champions there—but until then, Emer was safe... hopefully.

Then again, Mebd knew Cú Chulainn was out there, it was just a matter of time before he'd come to Ulster's rescue. If Mebd was smart, and she was, she'd make seizing Emer a priority.

Still, Cú Chulainn wasn't inclined to gamble with Emer's fate either way. Storming the city was foolish, even under the ríastrad, he'd be powerless if by chance Mebd had found Emer.

But there was one tradition that he could evoke. One that would spare lives.

Cú Chulainn entered Ulster—his broadsword sheathed to communicate his peaceable intentions. Cú Chulainn gasped. Half the city had been set aflame. The bodies of Ulster's men, many of them dismembered, littered the streets. These men weren't warriors. They'd never been adequately trained.

This hadn't been a battle. It had been a slaughter.

"Queen Mebd!" Cú Chulainn shouted as he walked through the streets. Enemy warriors stood by the perimeter, none of them bold enough to dare confront Ulster's only champion. "Face me, Mebd! I have a proposal!"

Whispers passed from warrior to warrior. They weren't sure what to do.

Queen Mebd appeared from behind one of Ulster's buildings—her armor was stained in blood, as was the blade she carried at her side.

"Cú Chulainn, the hero of Ulster," the queen declared. "It seems you chose an odd time to indulge in the pleasures of the Fae..."

Cú Chulainn cocked his head. The Fae... that's where he knew the woman who'd appeared to him. That's right. She was the one who'd appeared before. The one who tamed the wolf within him... it had been years and he could barely recall the incident. But that must be why she'd seemed so familiar...

"What is done is done," Cú Chulainn said. "Tell me, what of Ulster's women and children?"

"I'm not a brute, Cú Chulainn," Mebd said. "None of them have been harmed. Not yet, anyway. Not even your wife."

"My wife..."

"She is well... and she will remain so if you drop your blade."

Cú Chulainn shook his head. "And the prize you seek, Donn Cúailnge?"

"We've acquired the stud bull already."

"They why do you remain in Ulster. You have won. Leave these people be."

---