Emily's House: Book 1 of the Akasha Chronicles

Chapter 10: Lianhan Sídhe

Chapter 10: Lianhan Sídhe

 Dughall and Macha were in position. They followed a safe distance behind the soldier who they tapped to be the scout then scampered to the top of a small hill where they would have a view. The poor soldier had seen his mate come back from the last scouting trip addle minded and knew that the other had not been seen again. His legs quaked as he entered the area around the Sacred Grove.

If a person was observant, they could notice that when one got close to the entry of the Grove, all was still. There was no breeze and no birds chirped. The winds were calm. There was no movement at all. As the soldier approached, the stillness made him quake even more. The preternatural quiet made the area around the Grove eerie. The eerie quiet made most who experienced it flee in fright.

As the scout wandered the perimeter of the wall, he felt a slight breeze and a chill come over him. He turned and saw before him the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her hair fell around her shoulders in waves of gold. Her eyes were the brightest blue, like two radiant sapphires. Her full, rosy lips were parted slightly. But it was perhaps her skin that was the most striking. Pale and luminescent, it almost glowed. The soldier was so immediately enthralled with her beauty that he did not notice that she was, in fact, hovering before him, held aloft by her large faerie wings.

Dughall and Macha watched the whole scene from afar. They saw the soldier immediately enraptured by the beautiful creature. They watched as the scout moved closer, a wide smile on his lips. He held out his hands to her, and she held out her hands to him. They heard music. It was faint at first, but grew louder. It was singing. The Lianhan Sídhe sang to the soldier, and it was the song that lured him ever closer to her.

Macha turned her small head to Dughall and said, “Do not listen to her song. Muffle the sound so you cannot hear her.”

Dughall did as she said and wrapped a cloth from his saddlebag around his ears. He could see the Lianhan Sídhe but could not hear her beautiful song.

What he saw was totally unexpected. The Lianhan Sídhe smiled in a most beguiling way and continued to sing her song and lure the man closer. At last, their hands touched. She bent to kiss him, and he offered his lips to her. As soon as their lips touched, Dughall saw the man’s body go rigid, and for a split second, he opened his eyes wide in terror.

The Lianhan Sídhe was no longer the beauty that had lured him to her. Her eyes had gone from beautiful sapphires to red as flame. Her fingers ended in sharp talons rather than neatly trimmed nails. Her wings, seconds ago light and glittery, were the scaly wings of a dragon. Her body and face, previously all light and luminous, were covered in reptilian scales. Her lovely blue billowy dress was replaced with rags.

As she drained the life force from the man, his eyes became vacant. The Lianhan Sídhe’s beautiful song was replaced with a loud cackling. The life force of the man seemed to have made her even larger and more powerful. As quickly as she had appeared she disappeared with a loud crack as she flapped her large dragon wings and disappeared into the waning light of day.

Dughall and Macha stared in wonder at the spot where the Lianhan Sídhe had just been. It was Macha who broke the silence.

“You know Sire, legend says that if a man can resist her kiss, that she is defeated and doomed to wander the earth as a ghost for a thousand years, unable to take any more victims.”

“You mean, if I can resist her ... ”

“If you can resist her, you will defeat her. She will be powerless,” Macha replied.