Chapter 85: Enter Danu

The three men are frozen in the hallway. Isolde laughs at their iced bodies pleased with her work. She makes her way to the door in the corridor that Ainmire and Dian Cecht exited from earlier. As she turns the handle, she readies herself for what may be inside. The door creaks open and Isolde stares at whirring machines and racks of test tubes. She cusses and slams the door.

“Damn, why do men have to be so stubborn?” She says to herself as she heads to the other end of the hallway, ready to open another door.

The first door in the hallway is a maintenance closet and Isolde slams it hard enough to shake the walls. The force knocks some of the ice from the three statues in the center of the corridor, She trudges to the next door.

When she opens the next door, things look more promising. A nurse cowers in the corner with a baby in her arms. The baby makes no sound, but the nurse sobs hysterically.

“Please, please don’t hurt me!” The nurse pleads with Isolde.

Isolde’s only response is a cruel laugh and stretching her arms out to take the child. The nurse pulls the baby closer into her body, shielding him from the cold lady.

A frown scours Isolde’s face and she shakes her hands furiously. “Give me the child and I will spare you,” she promises.

The nurse hesitates, then hands the child to the woman. Immediately, Isolde wraps the child in her dress and rakes long ice sharp nails across the nurse's neck. Instinctively, the nurse grabs her neck trying to stop the gushing blood. She gurgles out, “You promised,” before collapsing on the floor.

Isolde turns her back and walks towards the door. “I did no such thing,” she chides.

Behind a closed door to her left, Isolde hears a quiet gasp. The noise barely registers, but she turns and opens the door. Two doctors huddle in the bathroom shower stall. Their faces pale and their bodies trembling.

“Well, what have we here?” Isolde takes in the sight of the two men with a smirk on her lips. “Can either of you tell me where the female patient is?”

The two look at each other and back at Isolde. Simultaneously, they answer, “Two doors down.”

Isolde politely thanks the two doctors, then turns to leave. As she closes the door, she stops in thought. She then moves back towards the shower. She turns on the water and ice cold blasts from the shower head. The two doctors scream and scramble to exit the stall.

The attempted escape is too late. Both men are solid ice before their first foot lands on the tile floor. Unlike the three in the corridor, these men are human and survival of Isolde’s ice shower is not in their cards. Isolde wipes her hands on her dress and turns her attention to the baby she has wrapped in the fabric’s folds.

“Almost forgot about you, little one.” She gently runs a finger over his forehead. “You certainly are not going to grow up as cowardly as these humans.” Isolde glances at the heap of the nurse on the floor, “At least, she tried to protect you. Not for long, but at least she tried.”

Isolde turns the handle on the door and enters back into the hallway. She checks the three men, making sure her ice sculpting is holding. Then, she makes her way down the corridor to the second door. The door that two cowards in the shower told her the woman is behind.

As the door opens, light emanates out and bursts into the hallway. Isolde is thrown back against the wall by the power. The infant tumbles from her dress and onto the hallway floor. Isolde shakes off the pain and slowly raises off the floor. Her hands feel around the tile for the child. She is blinded by the light escaping the room and does not see where the child landed.

A quiet voice, breathy and ethereal, echoes from the room. Words only Isolde can hear form in the air, “Come in, my child!” The voice is sweet but commanding.

Isolde abandons her search for the infant and drags herself towards the threshold. Resisting the voice is futile. She feels the pull and knows pain will come from not obeying. Once past the threshold, she observes a floating figure. The room is empty except for the glowing being in the middle of it.

“Expecting someone else?” A voice comes from the being but its lips do not move.

Isolde blinks her eyes to adjust to the light and shakes her body to ground herself in the moment. The two humans lied. She knew she should have kept one alive just for this type of thing.

Never one to cower, Isolde puffs out her chest and her steadiest voice answers, “I was expecting the human whore.” She swallows hard. “Do you know where she is?”

“Never one to give up, are you, Isolde?” The being lowers to the floor. Bare feet touch the tile and as the light dims, a humanly shape forms.

Before Isolde stands a beautiful woman, once bathed in golden light, she now shimmers with silver like the moon. The deity’s robes change in color from silver to gold and dance around her as if they are beings in themselves.

“Why do you seek her?” The goddess already knows the answer to the question. She has been watching the whole drama play out since the beginning. Since Isolde was only a thought in her father’s eye. She never wished to interfere, but now too many of the other gods had come to her. Too many of the other gods were choosing sides.

“As if you do not know,” Isolde spits ice at the deity. “I know who you are, but why are you here?” She stares at the deity. “What does any of this have to do with you?"

“None of this has to do with me, Isolde.” The deity glides towards her and attempts to place her hand on her shoulder.

Isolde steps back avoiding the touch. “Then why are you here? When have you ever had anything to do with me?” Venom and pain spew out with her words.

“I have always been watching you, my child.” The goddess approaches again, this time without trying to touch Isolde.

“Watching, but nothing else.” Isolde turns away from the deity. “You grant him a blessing. Let him keep her. Let him lock me away.” Isolde closes her eyes. “He never wanted me. And she threw away your blessing for ‘that’ child.” Bile forms in her mouth as she says the word child.

The goddess looks down on Isolde. Her expression is soft and caring. She sees the fairies wounded soul or rather the void where her soul was. She contemplates giving Isolde back the soul she lost, bringing light into her darkness. But in all of this, the goddess is still unsure where Isolde's soul went and when she lost it.

“I asked for your help so many times, Danu.” Isolde turns back toward the deity. “You abandoned me. You favored him.” Hatred tinges the rims of Isolde’s icy eyes.

“I never favored him, my child.” Danu reaches again and this time her hand sets gently on Isolde’s shoulder.

“Then why could you not make him love me?” Isolde collapse to the ground under the weight of Danu’s touch.