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PART II:

The Morrigan ? C

12

Who am I?I am Macha, the fairest of all the land. I am Anand, with all the wits of war. And I am Babd with her craftiness and magic. Though, even as Babd, I'd never realized Ihadsuch magic. When I wasjustBabd, I'd barely scratched the surface. Now, all the magic Babd ever had is realized and magnified in my divinity. I am the phantom queen, the Morrigan.

I am the triple Goddess. The three sisters are not lost. They are all here, alive and well. But together we are something more. When one of us speaks, we all speak. When one of us moves, we all move.

"Come and lie with me, wife," the Dagda said, snarling through his beard as he reclined in his bed.

"No thank you," I curtly replied. "Tell me what you did with our mother."

The Dagda reached down and adjusted himself before rolling onto his side. "She is well. Free of petty human concerns."

"If she was well, she would have come back to us."

The Dagda pulled at his beard. "I did not have use of her, wife. She was but a gesture of your father's sacrifice."

I winced. "Fionn."

The Dagda cocked his head.

"He's never been much of a father to us. Please, refer to him as Fionn."

"Very well. Your mother is the price he paid to acquire his Oxter. To think, foolish mortal, that he believed he could earn the praises of men if only his magic rivaled that of Diarmid Ua Duibhne!"

My stomach churned. "You're sick."

"It was not I who made the bargain."

"But you agreed to the terms," I snapped back.

"As I said, your mother is well."

"Where is she?"

"She grazes the countryside..."

"You turned my mother into a heifer?"

The Dagda laughed. "Of course not! She is but a doe."

I screamed, clenching my fists. "So now she must live in fear of hunters!"

The Dagda shook his head. "Her hide is impenetrable, wife. Fear not, she will live many years now free of your father."

"Fionn!" I lashed back.

"Of course, she will no longer be subject to his abuses."

"Turn her back. Return her to me."

"Why should I do that? I can sense your reluctance to embrace our marriage. Lie with me, embrace me... and perhaps I will restore her to you."

I narrowed my eyes. "You rightly condemn Fionn as an abuser, but you attempt to use my mother to seduce me? You're no better than him!"

The Dagda sprung from his bed with more vigor I expected a mere man of his size would have been capable of. "I am a God! I am better than him! I am better than any man!"