Aer II

31

   'Did I scare you?' Nix smiles as Daisy approaches him.
'Well I'm glad you're better,' Daisy sits in a chair next to his bed.
'I feel like you're not here to see how I'm doing'.
'No,' she says 'we need to find Arawn'.

Nix rolls his eyes 'listen, I have grown to tolerate the child but why can't we just go to your brother's settlement?'.
'Nix, we promised this boy safety and now he's alone somewhere, with the cult doing God knows what to him'.
'I mean they see him as a God, Daisy, they're not gonna kill him'.

  Daisy rubs a hand down her face 'that means there's more of a chance of them killing him. Listen I've been thinking, we found Arawn on their island, but Rob is the leader here and they obviously see Arawn as some importance too, so we need to get to Rob to find out the truth, to see if there's some kind of other, bigger settlement for the cult'.

Nix sighs 'I think you're giving me a headache'.
'Nix I'm being serious,' Daisy says 'we've come this far'.
He looks at her, he throws up his hands 'fuck it'.
Daisy smiles widely and hugs him 'thank you'.
'I did just get shot,' he winces.
She kisses him 'is that better?'.
  'I could get used to that'.
'Well don't,' she smiles.

'Whatever, but I do think you're right,' he says 'I've been thinking about it, we thought the cult's main compound was on the island but their numbers were so big, looking back on it it makes no sense. And as you said if Rob's group see Arawn as their God too there has to be more of them. You think your brother's group might know more?'.

'No I doubt it,' she shakes her head 'they came here all guns blazing, I don't think they realised the trouble they could've gotten in. But maybe they just didn't think the cult was here either'.
'Look talk to Dave, see if we can attack the hotel, if not, me and you will get Rob and we'll find out for ourselves,' Nix says.
'You think Rob will be easy to break?'.
Nix smiles slightly 'the Ifreann taught me a thing or two'.

Daisy knocks on Dave's door, he shouts to come in. He's sitting at his desk, his map in front of him 'all this time they were right under our noses...we could've dealt with this problem a long time ago'.
'I spoke to Nix,' Daisy sits across from him 'we think the cult might have a bigger compound, where their actual leader is and we think Arawn would be sent there. But we won't know where it is until we get it out of Rob'.
Dave smiles 'this is why I love Nix'.
'They've a lot of armed guards, they've a horde too,' she says, waiting for his expression to change but he doesn't seem phased at all 'it would be a lot for me and Nix to get through to get to Rob'.

  Dave pushes his map in front of Daisy, there's arrows pointing in different directions, there's writing everywhere 'I've been planning an attack since you left, I have my things to sort with them, you have yours'.
Daisy nods 'so what's your plan?'.
'Attack at night,' he says 'I've enough people to surround the building, the rest will go floor to floor, make sure to take out the men guarding the horde, once our work is done we'll set the place where on fire'.
  'I don't know if they'll go down that easy'.
'If we catch them by surprise they will,' he says 'believe it or not I don't really believe in going in all guns blazing, take them out when they sleep, less bloodshed, less noise, get the job done nice and quietly'.
'Nix and I will focus on finding Rob,' she says 'we can't do anything until Nix is better'.
'Of course,' he puts away the map 'I need a few days to prepare my men anyway'.

   A couple of days have passed, Dave has stopped all of his supply runs, he doesn't want Rob watching their movements. His men have been training day and night. Different groups have been focusing on different objectives.

The Ifreann have survived so long for a reason, and although their land and security are also reasons, but their skills are beyond perfect. They work well together as a team. The women are as strong as the men, the men are as agile as the women. Each person has a unique skill. Rob's men just seem like a bunch of Freak loving lunatics that charge at anything that moves.

'I wish you'd stay in bed more,' Daisy says as Nix sits at the table in their kitchen.

An apartment above a shop was free so Dave said they could stay there and rest before the attack. It's small and covered in mould but it'll do until they move on.

'I'm fine,' he says 'I'm not even sore anymore'.
'Yes but I need you to be fit for this attack,' she says 'and for the journey we have ahead of us'.
'Their compound might be closer than we think,' Nix says 'I really don't feel like walking far'.

'Dave might let us have a car'.
  'I highly doubt that'.
'He owes us,' Daisy shrugs.
Nix raises his eyebrows 'get yourself in trouble saying that'.

'Oh Dave isn't what everyone thinks he is'.
'I know him,' Nix scoffs 'there is a reason I left'.
Daisy frowns 'he seems to think the two of ye were very close'.
'He lives in his own world, he does what he wants, he thinks what he wants. His reality is miles different to ours. I left because I didn't want to become that. He's killed and tortured so many people and has had to convince himself time and time again he was doing it for the right reasons, now he can't escape the lies he tells himself'.
'We've killed a lot of people,' she says.
'But we can accept our wrongdoings'.
'We believed we were doing right at the time'.
'Daisy...' Nix looks at her 'I see what you're doing for Arawn, you tore apart Eilish's life for revenge on a man that you ended up killing anyway, it's not about Arawn, it's about you'.

Daisy hasn't thought about it in that way. She knows a certain amount of guilt has been building up inside of her. She saw Arawn hanging on that tree and she knew she needed to help him, so she could forgive herself for what she done, for what revenge made her do. Eilish killed her friends and that was Daisy's punishment but Daisy needed to make up for what she'd done, she wanted to prove she wasn't becoming a monster. Arawn was her proof.