Morrigan by Jonathan King (cat reading book txt) 📕

people would have come up with a more creative plan than that,” said Morrigan.

“So you try stealth, or magic, or modern guns, or any of a hundred other ways to kill her off. Say you burn her home down, or surround her in salt, or bury her deep beneath the earth. What makes you think any of that would work?” Brigid threw up her hands. “We don’t know who or what she is. All we know is that she held you prisoner, hindered your powers, for two hundred years. What kind of being can do that? She could have powers we haven’t seen or even imagined. You want to risk your life with that little intel? I’d think you of all people would know how terrible that strategy is.”

“Then what?” asked Morrigan. “Run back home and hope she doesn’t follow you?”

“We swore to rescue you,” said Mac. “That’s all that’s kept us going these many years. Cora has never been our problem.”

“Save the girl without slaying the dragon?” Morrigan smirked. “Is that what you’d do for your daughters, Mac? Is that how you saved Lugh?”

Brigid gasped and Mac’s thick face reddened. Abel squished himself lower on the stool, wishing he could disappear. It was like he was back in the kitchen at home, except he didn’t know what line Morrigan had crossed. He was sure Mac would explode like his father or mother, but when the old sailor spoke, he was as quiet as the sea about to birth a storm, and somehow, that calm was far scarier.

“That’s not fair.”

“Neither is what Cora did,” said Morrigan, “to me and to those under my protection. Now, for the first time in two hundred years, I can choose my own path, and I will do anything to make sure she doesn’t take that freedom away.”

“Then come with us and we’ll go somewhere she can’t touch you,” said Brigid.

“I won’t run away,” said Morrigan. “I’m a fighter, and I will take this fight to Cora. And if she kills me, then I will die on the battlefield like my mother before me, but it’ll be on my terms, not hers or yours or anyone else’s.”

“You do this,” said Mac, “and you’ll do it alone. I’ll not help you kill yourself.”

“Mac!” Brigid cried.

“Stop it, all of you!” Abel broke in. He couldn’t stand by silently like he had all those years; he wasn’t a child, and he wasn’t a trained dog. He was a hero. It was time he acted like it. “If I’d wanted to be part of a family fight, I could have stayed home.” He paused to let everyone catch their breath. “Look, we don’t have to decide this now, do we? Let’s give this a couple of days and think it over.”

“Give it all the time you want, but I won’t change my mind,” said Morrigan.

“Neither will I,” said Mac.

“The lad’s right, though.” Brigid put her hands on their shoulders. “We’ve been apart for so long. It’d be a shame to part again so soon, and angry into the bargain.”

“And how do you suggest we spend these days together in the meantime?” Morrigan asked.

Abel raised a tentative hand. “I might have a few ideas about that.” He pulled the Freedom List from his pocket, and his breath caught in his throat. He’d never shown this to anyone. “I just got my freedom too, and I’ve had a long time to think about what to do with it.”

Mac raised his eyebrows, some friendliness returning to his face. “Of course. You’ve done so much, it’s only fair that we help all we can.”

Abel smiled, cleared his throat, and read. “‘Go to a bar, have a…’” He trailed off. “Well, that’s taken care of.”

“The drink?” The corners of Mac’s mouth twitched. “Aye, that didn’t go so well, did it?”

Abel cleared his throat again. “‘Watch an R-rated movie.’ I’m open to suggestions if you have any. ‘Listen to secular rap. Learn to play poker.’”

“You’ve never played poker?” Mac asked. “Where were you that you couldn’t enjoy a simple card game?”

“My dad’s a preacher,” Abel said. “He wasn’t big on gambling. Or much of anything on this list.”

“So now that you’re out from under his roof,” said Brigid, “your big goal is to change the radio station?”

Abel’s ears burned as he read on. “‘Get a tattoo or piercing.’ That one’s got a question mark by it because I’m not sure I want to do anything that permanent to my body. I was just brainstorming ideas at the time.”

“Of course you were,” said Brigid.

“Do you remember when warriors were covered with tattoos and piercings?” Mac asked Morrigan.

“Mm-hmm,” Morrigan replied, studying her beer and avoiding eye contact with everyone.

“Now Mac,” said Brigid, “the child has a right to second thoughts about what he does to his body.”

Abel ducked his head. The child. And Morrigan was almost as red as he was. He embarrassed her.

“So you want to go to the movies, listen to some different music, open a pack of cards, and maybe, maybe get some kind of tattoo,” Mac summarized. “Anything else on that list of big dreams?”

The list crumpled in Abel’s fingers, but he was too near the end. Better get it over with. “‘Flirt with a strange girl.’ I kind of already did that with Morrigan.”

“Well, you tried,” Morrigan muttered.

There was a twinge in Abel’s heart. I did flirt with you. At least, you made it seem like I was being smooth. Was that an act? Did I misread everything?

One more line, and by now it seemed too silly for words. “‘Go shirtless in public.’”

“That was all you wanted?” Morrigan asked, finally looking at him. “I’ve seen you almost naked by now.”

“Ooh, do tell,” said Brigid, leaning close.

“It was nothing,” said Morrigan. “Just getting our clothes cleaned. And he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about it.”

“I’m right here,” Abel murmured.

“I’m sorry,” said Morrigan, “but I thought you’d have bigger dreams than that. I’ve got big plans for my freedom, once Cora’s dead. Feasts overflowing with food