I snuggled comfortably against him. “Are you sure it was just me? I think you cast some kind of spell or something.”

He tapped the tip of my nose with his finger. “Not tonight.” His look was intimate and I thought the room might have grown warmer as his voice deepened. “You need your sleep.”

“Are you sure?” I nibbled at his neck, and he bent to capture my lips with his own. Our tongues began a seductive game of tag. Now I was sure the room was hot, and I moaned against his mouth and whispered, “Why don’t you do that voodoo that you do so well.”

“If you are talking about shape-shifting,” he whispered back, and his hands stroked my waist and buttocks, up and down, up and down, “I cannot tonight.”

I wriggled around, pressing myself against his hard chest so that I could breathe in his ear, “Why not?”

Gently, he pulled me back from him, then tucked me under his arm (where I could do less damage, I guess). I was gratified to see his breathing had increased and he looked flushed, too.

“We begin our march to the Muses’ temple tomorrow. I cannot afford the energy drain of shape-shifting tonight,” he said, brushing a curl out of my face. “No matter how much I would like to.”

“We’re leaving tomorrow?” I felt my stomach clench. “So soon?”

“After what happened tonight, I believe Nuada will be on the move, and we have a full legion of centaur warriors ready to depart.”

“And my guard is leaving when?”

“Early in the morning they begin their march to the Loch.”

“What about the men who are supposed to attack from the west?”

“McNamara and Woulff have both sent word that their armies are joining. I sent Connor there with a group of centaurs to lead the march.”

“I guess they didn’t like that little stealing-and-raping-our-women info.”

“Well, what our runner said was that it angered the men—” ClanFintan grinned at me “—but it really, how would you put it, pissed off their women.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bet they were pissed.”

“Seems old McNamara’s first wife died last winter, and now he has a young and beautiful new wife. When she heard the news, she told him if he wanted his bed warmed by her this winter he would make sure the Fomorians were stopped.”

“Smart girl.” I yawned. “Remind me to thank her someday.”

“Sleep first. We leave at midday.”

I nestled against him, lulled into sleep by the warmth of his body and the gentleness of his hand as he stroked my hair.

9

“I still think I should be coming with you.” Alanna almost sounded whiny.

I sighed as I pulled on a new pair of soft leather breeches, marveling at their supple beauty. “Alanna, I wish you could come with us, too, but you have to stay away from the smallpox.”

“But the pox is here, too.”

“We already talked about this. The pox is quarantined here. At the Temple of the Muse it has probably infested everything.”

“I do not like the idea of you going without me.”

“I don’t like it, either, but I like even less the thought of you dying from smallpox.” She handed me one of my boots. I turned it over, smiling at the carved star I found on the sole, and tracing it with my finger. It’s so cool that my footprints leave stars everywhere I stepped. I looked up to see Alanna watching me with an I’m-going-to-cry expression on her face.

“Rhiannon never even noticed those stars.”

“I think they’re great.” My grin started to make her lips twitch. “Rhiannon was such a bitch.” At those familiar words, her lips turned up in an answering smile.

“My friend—” I reached out and took her hand, pulling her down beside me “—I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you just because you felt you had to take care of me.”

“I will worry about you every day.” Her voice was soft and shaky.

“Don’t—you know ClanFintan won’t let anything happen to me. You just focus on taking care that Carolan doesn’t exhaust himself. Now that Sila’s going with us, he’s back to too little help and too many sick people.”

“He does need me,” she said with the wistful voice of a newlywed.

“And don’t forget, I’ve put you in charge of temple management. You have to make sure everything runs smoothly. Who would do it if you went with me?”

“There is no one else.”

“Well, when this Fomorian mess is over we’ll train an assistant for you so you and Carolan can go on a long vacation. Maybe then you could get started on a baby.” I butted into her with my shoulder as her face lit up. “If you haven’t already.”

“Rhea!” She hit me playfully.

“Come on.” I jumped up, stomping my boots more snugly on my feet. “You know ClanFintan is already annoyed at how long it took for me to say goodbye to the patients this morning.”

I probably had spent too much time in the sickroom, but saying goodbye was more difficult than I had imagined, even if it was only temporary. Six more of the most seriously ill patients had died, and more ill people were being admitted to both rooms. Carolan said he thought the disease had peaked, but I wasn’t so sure. The good news was that it looked like the little horse lover, Kristianna, was going to live, and, although Tarah had been moved to the room with the most seriously ill, Sila had said she thought that she, too, would survive the awful disease.

Alanna sighed miserably and followed me out the door. The hall was deserted, which I thought was odd because just an hour ago when I’d left the sickroom to bathe and get dressed for the trip I’d had to dodge people and centaurs. I was just thinking what a nice change it was to have the hall back to a being a more private walkway when we came to the door to the courtyard. The guard bowed and opened the door, and a rush of noise exploded over me.

“Goddess!”

“Blessed of Epona!”

“Luck be with you, Lady Rhiannon!”

“Our love goes with you, Chosen of Epona!”

The courtyard was crammed full of people and centaurs. They cheered and waved as I straightened my shoulders, swallowed hard, grabbed Alanna’s hand so she wouldn’t be separated from me and stepped out into the narrow path. I was instantly surrounded by my adoring masses (who had just scared me so badly that I’d almost peed my pants).

“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ll miss you, too. Thank you.” I waved and babbled what I thought was the correct Goddess Incarnate response.

I made my way through the courtyard and out what I considered the front door of the temple, which opened out on the horse fountain and led to the Big Front Gate and the outside wall. The sight that met me was incredible. Stretching before me was a sea of centaurs. Their beauty and ferocity made the breath in my throat catch. They were equine lines of strength and muscle, melded with man and woman. They rippled with power, and confidence hung over them like a physical entity.

They caught sight of me, and as one they let loose a cry of “Hail Epona!” that sent gooseflesh up and down my arms. I suddenly remembered something that Ovid had written about beauty, that it was “favor bestowed by the gods.” If that were true, surely all the gods smiled on this group of warriors.

The most handsome (at least in my opinion) of the warriors detached from the front of the group and regally bowed to me before raising my palm to his lips. At his greeting another cheer went up, this time from the centaurs and the humans together.

“Are you ready, my Lady?” he asked.

I gave Alanna one last hug, then I turned to face the human crowd that spilled out of the castle and stood around the base of the temple and the huge fountain.

With my loudest voice I projected as far into the crowd as was teacherly possible.

“Lady Alanna carries my authority while I am gone.” I saw a ripple of smiles pass through the crowd at my announcement. I didn’t have to look at her to know Alanna was blushing again. “While I am gone, keep me close to you in your prayers.” I smiled and felt my eyes fill unexpectedly with tears. “Know you will always be with me in my thoughts, and in my heart. May Epona’s blessing surround and fill you like the air you breathe.”

I turned to ClanFintan and held out my arm so he could lift me to his back. Then he spun around, and at his command our army moved out at a smart trot while the people cheered and children ran back and forth strewing flowers in our path.

Suddenly, I heard a loud, familiar neigh, and I shouted in happiness as Epi galloped up to us. She slid to a graceful halt, as did the entire army of centaurs. Her neigh turned into a low whicker as she nuzzled my side. I bent to kiss her soft muzzle, murmuring to her how glad I was to see her, and how clever she was to manage to come out here to say goodbye. I glanced up to see several nymphets who were running from the direction of the stable, trying to catch up with her.

“You have to stay here, love,” I whispered to her and stroked her velvet muzzle. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”

She blew through her nose, and lipped my chin. Then she backed a couple of steps, threw her head in the air, spun around on her rear legs and raced back toward her stable, snorting with her tail held high—once more leaving the frustrated girls in the dust behind her.

“Clever mare,” ClanFintan said as he gave the order for us to proceed. I could hear chuckles of appreciation for Epi’s antics from the centaur warriors behind us.

I recognized that we were headed in the direction of the river, just as I had gone a couple of days earlier on the morning of the blessing ceremony. I leaned forward, resting my chin on my husband’s shoulder so I could speak in his ear.

“Are we going to follow the river north?”

He tilted his head back so I could hear him. “Yes, but we must cross over the river and travel up its eastern side. We don’t want to pass through Ufasach Marsh…it would be impossible for a centaur legion to navigate through the wetlands. And we must travel quickly. The eastern edge of the Geal River begins the Doire nan Each, which is forested land. Traveling through it is considerably quicker than picking our way through the swamp.”

“Makes sense,” I said and gave him a quick kiss on the earlobe. “Doire nan Each, sounds pretty—what does it mean?”

“Translated from the Old Language it means Grove of the Horses, probably named thus because it is the forest that separates eastern Partholon from the Centaur Plains. But the name is misleading, it is an ancient forest filled with giant oaks, not a mere grove.” He snorted. “And I have never noticed any horses there at all.”

I nodded in an understanding kind of way. Then a sudden thought made me frown. I remembered how wide and beautiful the river had looked the morning of the blessing ceremony. It had been lovely to look at, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to swim across it.

“Wait—are you telling me we have to swim across the river?”

I felt his deep chuckle. “No, there is a bridge just north of the temple. Actually, it is quite near the ruins of the ancient bridge Carolan told us about. We’ll cross there.”

“Good, these leather pants would take forever to dry out.”

“I certainly would not want to be the cause of your wet pants,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at me with a gleam in his eye.

I nipped at his neck. “Don’t get fresh—you’re supposed to be conserving your strength.”

“I was only trying to be helpful.” He tried to sound innocent.

“The kind of help I need from you can’t happen in your present form, Mr. Too Big For My Bed.”

“You might be surprised.” His voice had deepened.

Before I could ask him to explain his last intriguing comment, we followed a bend in the river and before us stretched the bridge. It was a high, flat structure made of logs tied together with what looked like giant binder twine. And it really didn’t look all that safe.

“Why does it have to be so friggin tall?”

“So the barges can sail beneath it. The Geal is normally a very busy waterway.”

I did remember seeing barges and other ship-type things floating down the river on my first couple of nightly spirit excursions. Oh, well, crossing bridges was, no doubt, probably safer than driving a car.

The bridge was only wide enough for the centaurs to cross two abreast, so ClanFintan started barking a series of orders that were echoed by several old and grizzled centaurs (like John Wayne in The Green Berets) that were situated at intervals down the lines. It sounded like, “COLUMN ATWOSTOTHERIGHT! HUUUH! FORHUUUH! STANDHAST! MARCHHUUUH!”

A military man just makes my heart go pitter-patter.

The army swung in a neat motion, and a column, two centaurs abreast but about a zillion deep, marched out in a perky trot. ClanFintan cantered ahead of the line. The bridge loomed closer and closer.

“Hold tightly—the climb is steep.”

I shut my eyes and held on as he plunged up the bank.

I could feel his footing falter as it slipped on the bridge’s crude logs, and my stomach sank somewhere around my ankles, then his hooves echoed dully like we were a million miles up. I had a flashback of the time I tried to walk across the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. Not even my girlfriend dangling a bottle of my favorite red could coax me past the halfway point.

Keeping my eyes squeezed closed. As a neurotic tribute to one of my all time favorite movies, French Kiss, I started to sing under my breath, to the tune of I Love Paris in the Springtime, “I hate bridges in the springtime.”

“Rhea, is there a problem?”

The sound of hundreds of hooves following us almost drowned out ClanFintan’s inquiry.

“Nope,” I said with my eyes still closed. “But let me know when we’re across the damn bridge.”

I felt the solid ground underneath his hooves. He stepped to the side and said, “Dougal, you and Clan-Cullen lead the column up the second path to the north.” Dougal and an extremely muscular roan centaur saluted and galloped to take up positions at the head of the column.

I had relaxed my eyes open enough to notice Dougal was looking less pale.

“Dougal looks well,” I said as we watched the centaurs pass.

ClanFintan glanced over his shoulder at me and said under his breath, “Better than you do. Your face is drained of color.” Then he added, “Oh, we have crossed the bridge.”

I glanced at bridge/accident waiting to happen, and shuddered. “I don’t like bridges,” I whispered in his ear.

His laughter caused the passing centaurs to grin in response.

“You can taunt the leader of a demon horde and put yourself in mortal danger night after night, but crossing a bridge makes you faint?”

“Yeah…so?” I said succinctly.

He took my hand and kissed my palm. “You are a constant surprise.”

“Yeah, well, uh, don’t you forget it.” I felt sure his continued laughter reflected the fact that he was overwhelmed by the depth of mystery and allure that made up a modern American woman. That or he thought I was just goofy as hell. I didn’t ask which one it was. In every marriage there are things better left unsaid.

“Lady Rhea!”

I smiled and waved enthusiastically as Victoria and a whole group (pack? herd? gaggle?) of Huntresses thundered over the bridge.

“I will find you when we camp tonight!” she yelled.

I yelled back an enthusiastic “Okay!”

We stood there watching the majesty of the centaurs trot by us. They seemed to stretch endlessly.

“How many centaurs are in a legion, anyway?”

“One thousand,” he said with obvious pride.

I hoped it would be enough.

“Hagan!” My husband’s voice carried above the hooves, and a huge black centaur stepped out of the column to join us.

He exchanged greetings with ClanFintan and bowed his head respectfully to me. I tried not to stare. He was the biggest friggin horse I’d ever seen. And the blackest. His skin was black, as was his thick, wavy hair. His coat was so dark it gleamed highlights of purple and dark blue, like a raven’s wing. Even his hooves were black. The only things white on his entire gigantic body were his teeth, and two patches of silver-white hair that streaked his temples. It was amazing. And, quite frankly, very attractive in a rakish, Zorro sort of way. I found myself having a sudden urge to lick him. (Oh, please—I wouldn’t really lick him, I’m just saying he was seductive-looking. I’m happily married, not entombed.)

After a brief discussion with ClanFintan, Hagan assumed our position, I reined in my risquй mind, and we set off at a quick gallop to rejoin the front of the army.

We overtook the column easily, and Dougal and Cullen saluted us and fell back to their previous positions. ClanFintan slowed the column, allowing the centaurs to re-form so that they were now trotting four across. Then, with a shouted order the centaurs lengthened their strides into the ground-eating canter “the boys” had traveled with on the way to and from MacCallan Castle.

As I already knew, it was a fairly comfortable way to travel, but it was pretty hard to carry on a conversation with your husband if he happened to be your source of conveyance. That was okay; I enjoyed gawking at the scenery.

ClanFintan had been right, Doire nan Each was no grove. The path we traveled was on the edge of the forest, between the tree line and the high eastern bank of the Geal River. The river was beautiful, wide and wild, with a clean, rocky smell that reminded me of the night Epi and I had spent next to it. But it was the forest that drew my eyes. It was easy to believe it was ancient. Oaks grew to such enormous heights that I could have barely reached the bottom branches standing on ClanFintan’s back. Just a short way into the forest I could see that there was very little ground cover, just a thick rust-colored blanket of old leaves and dry branches and logs. The passing army caused birds to scold and squirrels to chatter; I even glimpsed a doe and her fawn springing away in fright. The leaves rustled in the gentle breeze melodically, and soon I felt my head grow heavy.

ClanFintan reached back and pulled my arm around his waist. “Lean on me and rest. You have been getting too little sleep.”

I yawned and burrowed against him, breathing deeply of his unique scent. I mumbled sleepily, “It seems like you’re always telling me to rest.”

The breeze brought his deep voice to me. “I like caring for you.”

“Good.” I yawned again. “Please don’t let me fall.”

“Never.” He put his arm over mine. The sounds of the forest lulled me into a surprisingly deep sleep.

I was on a cruise ship, which was rocking gently in the blue Caribbean Sea. Lying next to me on a bright fuchsia sunbathing chair was Sean Connery, circa 007. In the ship’s pool in front of us frolicked a whole school of dolphins. They kept telling me to forget 007 and to come play with them. The dolphins had a ball-shaped thing that they were tossing around on their noses, and swatting soundly with their tails. I looked closer and realized it was my ex-husband’s head…

I laughed as my spirit body rose from ClanFintan’s back to hover briefly over the huge oaks. Mentally shaking off a feeling of numbness that I could only explain as me being way overtired, I turned so that I could look down the line of the centaur army, and felt a rush of pride at its numbers. They were so powerful and brave. How could anything stand against them?

“Okay.” Even my spirit voice sounded weary. “I’m ready.” And as I said, “By the way, how often do we have to do this twice in one daaaaayy…” my body shot forward with the familiar catapult-like explosion. I followed the line of the river, which blurred under me like a big silver ribbon, and then I changed direction and headed to the west. I was surprised to see that the sun was setting—guess I’d been napping longer than I’d realized. The Loch came into view. I tried to catch sight of my warriors who had left the temple this morning to march to the Loch and then sail to the rendezvous point with the other two armies, but I was moving too quickly to see anything except a blur of dark blue.

Laragon Castle passed beneath me, and I made myself look, but nothing was moving except some dark birds. I turned my head away, knowing where my spirit would be traveling to next. I turned once more to the west, and the mountains loomed huge ahead of me and to my right. They gave me a creepy feeling, which I thought was odd because I usually liked mountains. (No, I can’t ski well, but I have totally mastered sitting in the lodge drinking mulled wine.) The closer I got to the mountains, the stronger The Feeling. It was like…when you’re walking alone at night and you just know someone’s following you, or…

Oh, no. I knew what it was like. It was like the night of my spirit visit to MacCallan Castle when I’d first felt the inklings of the presence of Fomorian evil. I tried to calm the sudden pounding of my heart while I looked around me. Guardian Castle was nowhere in sight. I was hovering over the beginning of the mountain range, and wasn’t nearly far enough into the mountains to be close to Guardian Castle. My body drifted lower, and I studied the jagged terrain below me. The twilight made it hard to see. I drifted down the far side of the crest of one of the first large peaks.

And my heart froze.

Below me, spilling over the side of a mountain and into a small valley was an avalanche of creatures. Even though the terrain was too rugged for them to use their wings to help their advance, they moved swiftly and silently. In the waning light something about them struck me as reptilian.

Find him, the Goddess whispered into my mind. My body drifted lower still, until I floated near the heads of the leaders of the creatures. From above it was impossible to distinguish individuals—they all looked alike. Their wings were semi-erect; their heads were tilted down, as if they needed to watch where their talons were stepping. They were all tall and skeletal-looking, and I couldn’t friggin find Nuada.

Frustrated and not knowing what else to do, I drew a deep breath and yelled, “Hey, Nuada! Where are you, sweet thang?”

A horribly familiar hiss erupted from one of the lead Fomorians. He halted abruptly, causing the synchronized line behind him to falter and stop. They milled around in confusion as Nuada searched the air above him. I drifted down until I my spirit body was floating almost directly behind him. I sent a silent plea to Epona that she would lift me back up and out of reach before he turned around.

Do not fear, Beloved.

Without breathing, I leaned forward and whispered my breathy spirit voice almost directly into his ear, “Looking for me?” As I begun speaking, my body was already lifting—which was a good thing because Nuada spun around, grabbing only empty air with his distended claws.

“Up here, big boy!” I felt the shiver that told me I had become visible, and Nuada’s eyes were slits as he caught sight of me. His companions, too, could see me, as was obvious from their reaction. I glanced down at myself, realizing that I was naked again. I gritted my teeth. My body was still kind of see-through, so somehow that should make it okay that I was naked. At least that’s what I told myself.

“We come, female,” he spat.

“Good.” I blew kisses at his leering companions, which made him snarl. “The centaurs are looking forward to your defeat almost as much as I am.” My mocking laughter echoed from the side of the mountain as Epona made me transparent once again, and lifted my body away and back to…

“Uh!” I sat abruptly upright, blinking in the golden-tinted twilight.

“Rhea?”

I cleared my throat and said, “They’re on their way.”

10

We made camp as it became fully dark. ClanFintan said there would be light as soon as the moon rose, but not enough to risk snapping off a centaur’s leg. Besides, the Temple of the Muse was only a day’s march ahead. It was possible that they would be going into battle within forty-eight hours, so this night might be their last chance to rest before engaging the Fomorians.

The thought of the battle to come made my stomach hurt, but surrounded by one thousand strong, well-armed centaurs it was hard to imagine that anything could stand a chance of defeating us. Not even demonic, vampiric creatures like the Fomorians.

Soon after halting for the night, campfires flickered and the Huntresses returned with fresh meat that was quickly spitted and strung over the open flames. I excused myself, heading in the direction of the river to find a convenient bush and a trail down to the river so that I could wash some of the travel grime off me. ClanFintan, Dougal and a host of other smart-alecky centaurs made loud offers to accompany me, but I declined gracefully (telling them to mind their own friggin business).

The bank was much steeper than I had anticipated, but it was lined with a lovely assortment of low, leafy bushes. I smiled as I chose my facilities.

Then I scrambled down the bank in a spot that looked like it might have been a deer path. The Geal River glistened in the pale moonlight as if someone had broken a giant thermometer and spilled silver mercury over the top of it. It was more turbulent here than it had been downstream and it growled as it tumbled over rocks and crevices, beautiful in a wild, untamed way I would have never experienced in my old world. I’d seen many spectacular rivers: the Colorado River, Red River, the Rio Grande and the Mississippi. And I’d thought they were lovely and scenic, but this river felt different. It hadn’t been tamed and commercialized and touristized. It was still the pulse of its country. As I dipped my hands in its icy wetness and washed my face, then drank from it, I could almost taste its power. Surprisingly, instead of being overwhelmed by its primitive strength it invigorated me.

You belong here, Beloved. The words were spoken clearly in my mind.

“Could that be true?” I said aloud to the Goddess. “I think I want to believe it. I know I want to believe. But I’m…I’m just me. Nothing special.” Or at least not special enough to be chosen by an ancient goddess.

What does your heart tell you, Beloved? The gentle words soothed through my mind.

My heart said that this was my home, and the wonder of it caused the flesh on my arms to prickle and raise.

Remember to follow your heart, my Beloved… The sweet voice faded away like wind-blown leaves.

I stood beside the tumbling river for a long while trying to wrap my mind around the concept of belonging to a new world and age—and being called my Beloved by a goddess.

Feeling more than a little overwhelmed, I struggled back up the bank, which must have grown steeper as I’d communed next to the river. I was breathing hard and losing ground, when a strong arm reached down and pulled me the rest of the way up.

“I was beginning to worry about you.” My husband gave the path I’d just been trying to navigate a frown. “This bank is really too steep for you to be climbing—it could give way and you would find yourself in the river.”

I brushed my breeches off and muttered, “Now you tell me.”

“I would have come after you sooner, but I know how you value your privacy, and I thought I would wait until you were finished.”

“Darn nice of you.” I started walking back to our campfire. He fell in beside me, looping his arm around my shoulders and adjusting his long stride so that he didn’t walk over the top of me. His warm, solid presence grounded me, and I realized that whether or not I believed I should be the Chosen of a goddess, there was one thing I did not question, and that was that I belonged with ClanFintan.

The smells of our campfire were welcoming and made my mouth water. Something that had probably been Bambi was sizzling on a spit over the fire—I could hardly wait to dig in. I was happy to see Sila had joined our campfire, and we exchanged warm greetings.

“My Lady!” Dougal’s cute self hurried up. “I pulled this log over for you.” He pointed to a log that made a perfect seat by the fire.