Inhaling a deep breath through my nostrils, I raised my sword up to eye level, point first and opened the door.

  Even under his black hood, the scars that marred Donn’s face jumped out as he looked down his hook-like nose at me. They stood out because they were different than how I remembered the lord of the dead. That’s because the last time I saw Donn was right before I turned his whole Sluagh horde against him. The beastial birds were determined to peck him to pieces and gobble up his innards.

  They had not succeeded in killing Donn, but they disfigured him. If there was any doubt that he was the death lord before, he sure fit the bill now. He spun on his heel and stood to the side of the door at ease with his gangly arms folded behind his back. Though slender, his height let him tower over me, proud, and in complete control of the situation.

  “Come out,” he beckoned. “I’ll not harm you. Yet.”

  My nostrils flared. If I was Gavin I would have spewed fire at him and set him ablaze. As it was, a dark magic hex entangled my brother and the rest of the gang. They were alive and battered, but not dead. Unable to fight though. The remaining horde of all manner of Chaos beasts and monsters surrounded them, held at bay by Donn’s command.

  I could not help but voice my confusion. “Why did you spare us at all?”

  His red webbed finger traced the air. A vile warped rune etched in thin air materialized and drifted towards the Oak. Before it even made contact it burst and exploded. The tree remained.

  “I cannot destroy the tree while its guardian,” he waved a webbed hand at me, “...still lives. At least, not easily. It will take me too long. Why all this violence? Why all this time wasted? I’ll hold my minions off from harming your family or your friends.”

  “To what end?”

  “Relinquish your guardianship. Give up your Good Luck.”

  Gavin’s voice cut through, loud and clear. “Don’t listen to him. Gut him like a fish, Sean.”

  I eyed my friends. I didn’t trust Donn’s promise to keep my friends alive and well. And two of my family members were still inside the house. I shook my head violent enough to crack my own neck. “No can do.”

  “A duel then. If I win you are out of my way and I destroy this tree. But, I promise I will let your friends live.”

  I had a vested interest too. Without the tree and away from Tir na nOg, I’d have no power. And considering what Donn already did to the block while trying to uproot the tree, my friends and family wouldn’t survive long after Donn killed me. “I’ll end you before you even lay a finger on the tree.”

  Donn scowled. “I’d scoff at you mortal, but I’ve heard tales of your feats. You’re no ordinary man. The blood of Tuatha runs in your veins.”

  “Maybe it does. Or maybe Order blessed me just to be a thorn in your side.”

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  He snarled.

  “How do you wanna do this then?”

  “We fight here under the tree. If you try to flee I’ll slaughter everyone you love.”

  “I don’t run from my problems.”

  “So we dance with death then.”

  He tapped his fingers in the air as if playing an invisible keyboard. Once again, vile twisted runes burned as they floated, but this time a slab of a sword materialized. He raised his sword in a defensive stance waiting for me to attack.

  I turned my back on him and walked over to the tree. I knelt at the trunk, closed my eyes and placed a palm on the bark. Without even drawing on it, Luck Magic flooded into me. I gasped under the weight of it, but I’d need it all and then some.

  Rising to my feet, I spun and stabbed my katana in the grass. My arms slipped out of my jacket of holding. I didn’t want to be impeded by anything, so I kicked off my socks and shoes too. Though he didn’t deserve it, I placed my feet together, hands at my sides and bowed to my opponent, reenacting the ritual of every Kenjutsu bout I’d ever participated in.

  Donn chuckled.

  I threw him a lopsided grin.

  Drawing Jade from the grass I took a wide stance, held the blade straight in front of me and closed my eyes.

  With my feet, I probed the grass and earth under me until I sensed the roots of the tree. Though Chaos abounded all about me, though Donn’s black magic had ripped up my childhood home and at any moment it could plummet to the earth killing us all, the tree was still rooted. I let the sensation of the tree fill me, pass through me, until the tree and I were one, grounded. With its power flooding through me I was an extension and guardian of the tree.

  Slowly I brought Jade back.

  I breathed.

  In through my nostrils.

  Out through my nose.

  In.

  Out.

  Donn twitched and I exploded.

  In a flash I was upon him.

  I brought with me all my fury, several months of pent-up rage unleashed in a single moment, fueled by the knowledge that my father had tried to prevent this from happening and had suffered a fate in some ways worse than death. Donn was the single unifying reason behind all the things that happened to my family and he was going to pay for it, Celtic god or not.

  Jade whirled before me faster than a chainsaw. Emerald Luck lines raced around the katana itself in intricate patterns as I danced before Donn. He took a few steps back raising his massive wedge of a sword.

  My katana met his blade. Sparks flashed, illuminating the hatred in his black eyes. His red skin seemed to boil with his fury. His buster sword swung down at me. Last time he had severed my sword in two. Jade was still just a normal katana, although this time I had figured out how to imbue it with Good Luck.

  I retreated away from Donn, letting my Luck guide me to dip under swipes of his blade, leap over stabs aimed at my legs, and twist away from dangerous overhead arcs. Naturally, I circled the Oak tree as it was my source of power as well as the one last memory of my family that I had to defend.

  Donn chased me and I backpedaled, always keeping the tree between him and I. Moving in a counterclockwise circle, around and around the tree we went. I wasn’t keeping count so I did not realize I’d circled the tree six times. All the while Donn gnashed his teeth as he tried in vain to sever me in two. On the seventh go around a sensation grew in me, like I stepped through a web of reality and was tugging at the fabric of existence. Donn felt the same sensation as well. I saw it in his eyes.

  With swift cunning he swiped at my head with the buster sword, which I dodged perfectly. But his hidden uppercut caught me square on the chin. I stumbled and tripped on a root. As I fell, the feeling of falling from Earth through a rift overcame me, but I bashed my head on a rock and blacked out.