Page 4 of A World Enough

She closed her eyes and pictured the cathedral of caves in her mind’s eye and felt her body shiver. When Morrigan opened her eyes again, she found herself at the caves of Danu. Tua monks were clearing up burned trees and blasted stone.

“We were attacked,” a voice behind Morrigan said.

She recognized the gravelly, aged voice immediately: Vorka, the matriarch of the Tua monks.

Morrigan turned around and saw Vorka sitting cross-legged in front of the statue of the Goddess Danu. The Goddess they worshipped.

Vorka was long lived and battle hardened from the life she’d lived before becoming the head of the Danu monks and the portal guardians. Her hair was mainly white, interspersed with a few remaining black hairs, and it framed her dark skin. Vorka’s face bore a long scar that ran down her cheek to her nose.

Even with her great age, she was still beautiful and had a powerful presence.

“Morrigan, you find us in a poor situation indeed. Have you finished interfering with the people of Earth?”

“I wasn’t interfering, Vorka. I gave that up long ago.”

“When you were leading armies against each other, or when they stopped worshipping you as a god?”

“I only tried to help rally communities when they were being threatened. I have a soft spot for the people of Earth, but when I realized I was doing more harm than good, I stopped. I didn’t want to be a false god like the Abnobians. Although I may have given some old friends a hint to stop Balor taking over. He would have destroyed and enslaved their world.”

Vorka smiled. “I know that. You forget, I see many things, Morrigan.”

Morrigan had always liked Vorka. Even if you made mistakes, she was willing to see past those mistakes.

“You forget that the Tuatha De Danann made similar mistakes a long time ago. We showed too much of ourselves, and the Celtic peoples of Earth treated us like gods. Then we came up with a code of conduct to protect the natural evolution of civilizations, as the Goddess Danu wanted us to.”

Vorka pointed to a stick with a round globe on top, with ancient writing on it.

“Hand me my stick, Morrigan.”

Morrigan handed it to her and helped her up.

The monk Nuada caught up with them. “What happened, Vorka?”

Vorka placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We concealed ourselves. Davor sent a team to try to capture the Map Keeper.”

“They didn’t—” Nuada started to say.

“No, she got to the portal.”

“Thank Danu. Hopefully she’s far away by now.”

“This is a new push to get to Camber. We need to be prepared.”

Nuada nodded and bowed his head. “I’ll go and help with the clear up.”

Morrigan followed Vorka as she started to walk. “I sent Nuada to help you with Balor. I saw in my visions that a witch was helping Balor escape his prison.”

Morrigan nodded. “It gave me a chance to help make up for some of the…misunderstandings I may have caused on Earth.”

Vorka laughed. “Misunderstandings, yes. There’s a reason your people are known as the tricksters of our worlds.”

“No tricks this time. I’m determined to go straight,” Morrigan said.

“If you’re looking to help, there is always a spot for you with our portal guardians, although I don’t know what your mother would think of that.”

Morrigan offered Vorka her arm. “The thought of my mother being annoyed by it would make me more inclined to do it.”

They walked into one of the caves where the Tua were clearing the damage, and Vorka sat on a boulder beside a statue.