Daughters of Le Fey Part 25

This is the story I've been editing. I reached the end of the work in progress and I've had inspiration to continue the story.

Thank you for following me as I edited it. I hope you'll continue to follow as I now enter the writing stage.

The links to the previous episodes are all here.

On with the story.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24

Images from Wiki, Google (free to use) and Pixabay

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Katherine escorted Ruth to the entrance to what she assumed was heaven and watched as she went in.

Ruth opened her arms to greet someone Katherine couldn’t see and the girl’s spirit ran forward without looking back.

From the recesses of the gateway, Katherine heard, “Be careful, Katherine, he is stalking you now.” As she turned away. Katherine nodded because she knew that was true.

When Dominic’s reincarnation had been executed by Elizabeth, Katherine didn’t see hide nor hair of him – in a spiritual sense – for a long time, even given the differences in time in both worlds she was able to travel between.

Katherine expected a similar situation, but decided against resting on her laurels. She went back to visit the place where her body lay interred. The village had come on in leaps and bounds. The small market had been expanded and bustled with trade. Katherine watched for a while and stroked the noses of the horses as she passed.

Her powers were increasing for she imagined she could feel the velvet-soft nose of the horses and the hint of their breath as they puffed a greeting to her.

Dogs and especially cats looked up at her face and every animal showed acknowledgement of her as she passed. That in itself gave her cause to smile.

She knew that it was time to start creating life in her spirit world.

Katherine went back to her little grove. It had started to recover and grow wild and untamed without her hand to guide its progress. She stood and looked. It seemed familiar and she realised that the grove took the shape of the little stream and woodland where she had met her end.

Surprised at the realisation, Katherine wandered over to the stream and saw a figure at the water’s edge. This time, however, Morgana was not washing clothes. She dipped her fingers to the water and looked up at Katherine as she approached.

“Mother,” Katherine said.

“Daughter, it is so lovely to see you. Why have you called me here?” Morgana said as she stood up to greet her daughter.

“I have not called you here,” Katherine said as she embraced her mother.

“Something has.” Morgana looked about the clearing. “I take it that you have not created this grove?”

“No, it was not I.”

“We must leave. I believe Dominic may be behind this,” Morgana said and took Katherine’s hand. In an instant, they were beyond the realms that Katherine had explored. Over the other side of the mountain range, where it seemed life of any kind had not yet reached.

Morgana stepped away from Katherine and her face altered. Her expression soured and she sneered. Katherine looked into her mother’s eyes and stood exceptionally still. She made herself wraith-like and almost transparent, exactly like the trees she had never been able to tell if they were there when she practiced and closed her eyes.

Morgana gave a flicker of pride in her daughter’s powers and she held up her hands to ward off something behind Katherine.

Katherine moved slowly and deliberately out of Morgana’s line of sight and she stood beside her mother and turned to see what Morgana faced.

The black spirit that had frightened Katherine before, stood where Katherine had been. It sniffed the area and did not see Morgana at all.

Morgana held up her hands still, and Katherine realised it was her powers that was keeping them hidden. She relaxed and regained her form.

“It cannot see us,” she whispered.

“No, it cannot. And pretty soon, it will not be able to harm you, either. Your expertise is magnified many-fold from the last time we spoke. You are growing in stature, in experience and in abilities. This can only help you in your last battle,” Morgana said, looking at her daughter and dropping her arms.

The veil that hid them from the blackness evaporated and the spirit saw Katherine. Whether or not it also saw Morgana, Katherine could not tell, for it had no eyes that she could see and therefore she couldn’t gauge where it was looking.

Katherine’s heart hammered in her chest and she froze to the spot. Terrified on the inside, she used her knowledge to mentally calm herself and when her heart regained a steady rhythm, she lifted her hands as Morgana had done.

The spirit saw that she meant to fight rather than flee and a sinister laugh emanated from it in waves.

The Katherine of before would have fled.

The spirit leaned back a little as though taking stock of Katherine’s unexpected confrontational stance. Then it lurched forward at her in an attack.

The noise as it bounced off something it couldn’t see or sense sounded like it had winded itself and it flew back, further than where it had launched its attack from.

Katherine didn’t believe it had finished and though she lowered her arms, she did not lower her guard.