A Visit to Ireland

Part 4

In front of the forest, Raphael and Mike were having a hard time keeping their horses from rearing up and throwing them off. They both stared into the treeline, peering through the shadows and trying to see farther than five feet. It was impossible.

"Raph, they can't be in there!" Mike asked, yelling over the wind. The gusts howled through the trees, making it hard to hear. "Even Leo wouldn't be that crazy!"

"I wouldn't put it past him!" Raph cried back, allowing his horse to skitter away a few paces from the forest. "Damn it, can you see anything?"

"No!" Mike looked back at the castle, then at the trees again. "Raph, there's no way he'd go in there, not without more backup, and even if he did, they'd have taken off before it started to get dark!"

"He might have gotten them both lost!" Raphael argued. "He's real good at that!"

"Yeah, but she could've gotten them...un-lost! She's a shinobi thingie, she could've found her way out! I bet they just pushed how far they could go and it took 'em awhile to get back!"

Raph glanced back at the castle, but it was hard to convince himself to go. "Maybe..."

"Look, they're probably coming in right now, they might even be inside the castle right now! We probably just missed them! And it's too dark to go inside that forest right now, those things might be able to come out!"

Raph growled, but he turned his horse away from the woods. "I hope you're right, Mike!" They both urged their horses back home, and they clung for their lives as their mounts raced back at full gallop, eager to go back.

Meanwhile, Leonardo and Venus were taking a rest inside the stable. Their horses were already there, quietly munching on hay and oats without a second glance at the turtles.

"Looks like they had enough sense to come in out of the rain," Venus said, taking off her mask and wringing it out.

"Rotten cowards," he muttered, glaring at them. "Can't believe they took off like that."

"Maybe they didn't want to stick around with that big monster."

"Why not?" he asked, and she wondered if he was being sarcastic or not. "That fight was fun."

"Only you would think so." She looked up at the little blue light still hovering around, then reached her hand out and grabbed it. The light dissipated around her skin until it was gone, and she sighed in relief. "Ah, that's better."

"Are you all right?"

She nodded. "Mm hmm, it's just hard keeping it lit up so bright for so long. I just like getting the energy back, that's all."

He looked over at the lit windows in the castle and groaned. "I really don't want to go in there yet."

"What, and admit the two best riders lost their horses?" she smiled. "In the rain? And had to walk back?"

"Something like that." He stood up, then helped her rise. "Might as well get it over with."

"At least we'll be humiliated and dry instead proud and wet."

The rushed along the distance between the stable and the castle, not bothering to knock as they pushed in the door and stumbled inside. Leonardo shut the heavy doors behind them while Venus headed right to the fireplace, sitting against the hot stones near the edge. Leo took his place on the other side of the fire, closer to the flames. The water hissed as it splashed against the ashes.

"Don't you get worried sitting so close to the fire?" she asked.

"Right now, I'm too soaked to worry about it," he groaned, closing his eyes. "Where is everybody? I thought they'd be down here by now."

Venus shrugged. "Maybe they found a spell to make the shields stay up. Relax."

Leonardo nodded, waited thirty seconds, then sighed and stood up. "I'll be right back, I have make sure they're--"

"AAAAAARRGHH!" The blood-curdling scream was accompanied by harsh pounding on the staircase, and a dark blur came rushing at them. Venus jumped to the left and quickly gathered her strength, preparing to form an energy ball, but Leonardo had already crouched down and whipped out one of his throwing knives, raising it up and aiming at the blur's head.

Before the blur hit the bottom of the stairs, however, Leonardo just sighed in exasperation and stood up, sheathing the knife again. "For the love of--Casey, cut that out!"

Casey stopped as soon as he heard his voice, lowering his hockey stick. "Aw, man, it's just you guys!"

"Glad to see you, too!" Venus glared, sitting back down. "Running around like a madman..." she mumbled under her breath.

April came down from the top of the stairs, trying to hide her giggles. "Don't mind him, he's just bored."

Casey plopped down on the couch, removing his mask. "So, what happened to you two? Decide to stay out late?"

Venus blinked in amazement. They hadn't noticed their horses had returned without them?

Leonardo didn't hesitate, however. "Yeah, we went so far out that it took us awhile to get back." He ignored the look Venus gave him. "Where's everyone else?"

"Don and the Irish chick are up in the library. They said they found a book with all the spells they'll need, so Don's reading the Welsh to her and she's translating."

"But why? Can't she just work the spells on her own?" Venus asked.

Leo nodded. "Because she's illiterate."

All three of them looked at him in surprise. "How'd you...?" Casey asked.

"Well, if she had the book in her library the whole time, she wouldn't have needed us to read it for her. Plus, all of her knowledge seems to be legends handed down from mother to child. And, if she's really a writer, she must have a tape recorder with her somewhere because there aren't any pens or notebooks laying around."

April shook her head with a sigh. "Damn, it sounds so simple when you say it..."

Leonardo was about to ask her something, but suddenly the doors burst open, and two very wet and very irate turtles came stomping in, nearly slamming the doors behind them. Raphael stopped, then folded his arms when he saw his brother sitting by the warm fire.

"And how long have you two been home?" he asked far too nicely.

"About three minutes," Leo replied, also far too politely. "Why were you out at all?"

"Looking for you," Mike sighed, sitting down directly in front of the fire. "Ooh, that feels good...Raph, you gonna warm up?"

"Thanks, I'll stand," Raph growled, walking behind the other couch. While he was talking, Donatello and Riana came down the stairs, with Shadow trailing behind. "What took you so long?"

Donatello rolled his eyes. "We've just been reading these spells, you know that."

"Not you, I'm talking to Leo."

"Later," Leo told him, turning to April. "So, did you find anything?"

"You were right," April said, leaning back against the couch. "This castle is built on an energy source. Any sorcerer would love to get his hands on it."

"What kind of energy?"

"Earth type. From what I've read, this place was built on a lay line. People used to believe that these lines conveyed huge amounts of power sent up from the earth, and they built stuff like churches over them."

"Lines?" Donatello and Riana said at the same time. He opened up the book he had with him and flipped to the right page. "That's what those things must be on the diagram. I thought they were just there to help draw the circles...but if those are magick...then this castle is perfectly centered where two lines cross."

"Which means anyone would want all the power under it," Riana nodded.

"That still doesn't make sense," Leo said, leaning back. "How many people know about these things? And out of that, how many would be able to actually use it?"

Riana shrugged. "Well, Ah certainly didn't know. Muh father probably did, and all the men in the family before him, though they're all dead now. Perhaps they might've told someone else, but I doubt it."

Leonardo didn't reply, an idea obviously forming in his mind. Mike took the chance to jump into the conversation.

"It'd have to be someone who can conjure up evil demons," he said. "Like that chop-happy monster this morning."

"Monster?" Venus asked, beating Leonardo to the question.

Casey grinned at the thought. "Yeah, weird little green dude with a pair of swords and a funny hat. The Irish chick called it a red cap."

"Irish 'chick'?" April sighed.

"But how did it get in?" Venus asked, again beating Leo to the question. He glared at her, and she just smiled.

"Well," Raph started, sitting down on the opposite chair, "we were looking over the castle, and we got up to the attic, where we found all this weird shit--"

"--like kobold eyes and faerie wings and black elf blood," Mike interrupted.

"--and," Raph growled at his little brother, "we found a spell book. That's when a glowing circle appeared in the floor and this little green dude popped out. It went after the book, and then when Mike grabbed it first, it went after Mike."

"And I got rid of it downstairs!" Mike added. "Bet you guys didn't see anything like that."

Venus glanced at Leo, and they both started to laugh. "No, Mike," Leo nodded. "We didn't. Ours was much bigger than that."

"You found something?" Don asked.

Venus nodded. "Whatever chased you in the forest, we found it. And it's a good thing you ran, there's no way you could have killed it with a staff."

"Whut did it look like?" Riana asked, closing the book and handing it back to Donatello.

"It's hands were missing," Leo started, "which was damn lucky, I'd have hated to fight that thing otherwise. It had to be at least fifteen feet tall, all black, with red eyes and fangs."

"It stood on its hind legs, like a person," Venus continued, "but its head looked like a dog's. It's eyes were really unfocused, and it didn't have any bone or muscle to it. Its blood was poisonous, though."

"It just melted when we finally killed it," Leo said. "And everything it touched just seemed to wither away."

"Good Lord," Riana gasped, "that sounds like a nuckelavee, but...I don't know, it dinnae sound all right..."

"All right?" Raph asked. "What the heck is a nickel-laughie, anyway?"

"A nuckelavee," she repeated. "It's one of the worst monsters oot here, but usually they don't come this far south."

"We're far south?" Casey asked in wonder.

"Aye, as far as Scotland is concerned. They're really a Scottish boggle. If it didn't have any muscle or bone, I'd say it was a pure conjure."

"What's that?" April asked, helping Shadow up onto the couch between her and Casey.

"A magickal construct," Riana clarified. "Like a rude copy of the original monster. I suppose it would be easier to use one of those than the actual thing, since they're notoriously vicious by nature."

"So this guy could be conjuring up his army," Raph said slowly, "and camping out in the woods, popping in whenever he wanted to until the wards failed. But that would mean that this guy not only knows about the lay lines, but he'd also have to know about the wards, when they would fail, that it was a girl and not the magician in the family who was living there, and exactly where to put his little monsters in the house."

"Who on earth could do all that?" Mike asked.

"I think I know," Leo said, looking up. "Riana, how exactly did your father die?"

"But are you sure?" Leo asked. "Did you see a body?"

Riana nodded, then stopped. "Well...nae quite...we were riding oot in the forest one night, and his horse reared up at something and he fell in the water. Muh own horse startled and took off after the first, and it was only a few minutes later that Ah managed tae turn her back tae the lake. By then he was floating in the water, and Ah watched as he suddenly sunk under and disappeared."

"Did you ever find him again?" Raph asked.

She shook her head. "Nae, I had people come and dredge the water, but they never found anything. I figured the undines dragged him under."

Leo shook his head the same time Raph did. "No, that doesn't add up."

"Yeah," Raph agreed. "How do you drown in just a few feet of water? And even if those nymph things got him, I don't think they'd have left a body there for you to see before taking him back under."

"You think he's the one causing all this?" Don asked. "That sounds a little far-fetched to me. Why not just wait for the wards to fail and take everything then?"

"Because he had a daughter who would have suspected something," Leo answered. "Riana, did he ever try to send you off anywhere or get rid of you somehow?"

Riana, to just about everyone's surprise, nodded. "Aye, the bastard tried to spell me away once, but I cut his spell apart before he could grab me."

"How?" Mike asked before Leo could keep going. "I thought you only had a few tricks."

She smiled and took out her Tarot pack. "These things are useful in a few different ways." She held up the two of swords, and the card started to glow. Suddenly the two swords practically leaped off of the card and merged to form an ethereal short sword that disappeared within a few seconds.

"Wow!" Mike gasped. "That was cool!"

"It's nae good against anything solid, though," she sighed, putting the cards away. "Those can only cut through spells. It's the same with muh cards."

"It doesn't sound like you trusted your father much," April said softly.

Riana nodded. "Of course not. He was a warlock, not an honest witch. But he hated water, so I thought for certain he was dead when I saw him floating."

"That's why he couldn't do anything while he was here," Leo said. "Riana could have stopped him. But now that he's out there, she can't do much of anything, and all he has to do is wait for the castle to become vulnerable."

"But why would he want the castle?" Casey asked. "He's already a warlock. He's already got magick. Why go for the lay lines?"

"More power," everyone said.

"Yikes, okay," he said, "sorry I asked."

"Well, it is kind of obvious," April smiled.

"Yeah, real obvious..." Leo mumbled.

"Well, while Leo looks for the hidden subtext," Venus smirked, "Donatello, you and Riana should start working on those spells."

"You'd better help them," Leo said to Venus, ignoring her little barb. "They might need your energy. Raph, I wanna see that room you guys found. Did you finish searching the castle after that?"

Raph shook his head as he stood up. "Didn't have time. We can do that now."

"I'm coming with you!" Casey cried, grabbing his hockey stick. "I'm still waiting to take something out!"

"Um...I'll just go upstairs and take a nap," Mike said, trying to sneak away.

"Michelangelo," Leo started. "Get back here."

Mike sighed and followed them up the stairs, casting a forlorn glance at April and Shadow as they followed after the other group.

*

"Is he always that decisive?" Riana asked as they went up the stairs.

"Who, Leo?" Don asked.

"Mm-hmm. He seems to be perpetually stressed out."

He laughed. "That's to put it mildly. The guy couldn't take a break if his life depended on it."

"He's just worried about keeping everyone safe," Venus said. "It's a somewhat twenty four hour job."

"Ah dinnae doubt it," Riana nodded. "Having tae keep a handle on all o' ye, tha'ss got tae be an awful headache."

"Especially when he's tortured by the resident physician," Venus smiled a little too politely at Donatello.

"Look, I don't know why you two would rather walk around wounded and bleeding instead of taking a little medication and some bandages," Don snapped back.

"Your idea of medication is bathing in iodine and mercuroform. Your cures are worse than the injury."

"You would rather be stabbed than get an injection!"

"Damn right! At least the enemy doesn't slip stinging chemicals into our systems!"

"Enough, you two," April laughed. "What kind of role models are you giving poor Shadow here?"

"Hopefully a sensible one," Venus said, "as opposed to a medical one."

"Leo's been helping you out on your vocabulary, hasn't he?" April said, giving Venus a knowing wink.

Venus stared at her for a second, then glanced up at Donatello and Riana, who had already gone into the library. "I...have no idea what you're talking about," she said.

April raised her eyebrows. "Right...Venus, women know when other women are after a guy. Look, I won't say anything, I promise, but if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm right here."

Venus was nearly stunned into silence. Here April had figured out what three ninjas hadn't. "If that sort of occasion ever comes up," she said, recovering quickly, "then I'll take you up on that."

"You do that," April said, heading up into the library with Shadow.

Venus sighed, then followed.

*

Meanwhile, the other little group had re-entered the old workshop, side stepping the pieces of broken table and a few smashed jars.

"You had to fight it in here?" Leo asked, glancing around the dark room.

Raph nodded. "Yeah, it is pretty cramped, huh?"

"But it's got such neat stuff!" Mike said, glancing over the shelves. "Green Jenny hair, poison mushroom stems, Black Annis skin, and a kelpie's teeth! Hey, look, aged cheese! Some of this might actually make a great pizza topping!"

"You are one sick puppy, Mike," Casey said. He abruptly bent down over another jar. "Cool, hen's teeth! I didn't know they had teeth! And mountain roots?"

"Really?" Mike asked, looking at them. "Trade my dragon scales for your hen's teeth?"

"Sure!"

Raph rolled his eyes as they exchanged unwieldy jars, then looked at Leo, who was deep in concentration. "All right, what is it?"

Leo looked up distractedly. "Hmm...what?"

"You got that look in your eyes, the there's-more-to-this-than-I'd-like-to-think look."

Leo shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. Why pop in after the book now? He could have gotten it any time. Why wait for you three to be in here?"

"Coincidence?" Mike asked.

Leo opened his mouth to say something, but they beat him to it.

"There's no such thing as coincidence!" they all laughed.

He glared at them. "Well, there isn't." He sighed and headed for the door. "Come on, might as well finish the rest of the castle."

"Oh, joy, more chances to meet big nasty things that want to skewer us," Mike chirped cheerfully.

Leonardo and Casey went up the next darkened staircase, followed close by Raphael and Michelangelo. The light given off by the lantern hardly lit the stairs well enough, and the risk of tripping and falling the entire way back down was enough to make all of them nervous.

"You know," Mike huffed, all but crawling up the steep steps, "when we came in, I don't remember seeing any huge spires or turrets up in the air."

"We're in the back of the castle now," Raph said, just as winded. "And it's not really that tall."

Casey groaned as he kept climbing. "Not tall...what the hell do you call tall?"

Leo smirked, a little smug at their reactions to such a short climb. "If you want to take a rest while I go see what's up there--"

"No!" Raph and Casey yelled, their pride stung.

"Well..." Mike sighed, considering it.

"We only have one lantern, Mike," Raph said. "You wanna sit here in the dark, all alone, with who knows what running through these halls?"

"Right behind you!" Mike said, quickening his pace. He looked over his shoulder as the darkness behind him kept creeping up faster and faster. Since he wasn't watching where he was going, he slammed hard into Raphael. "Hey, why'd you stop?"

Raph growled at his little brother. "We're at the top, clumsy."

"I am not clumsy, you stopped without warning me."

"You should have been looking."

"Will both of you shut up?" Leo snapped. "You never know what could be in here."

"Aw, is the big bad leader afwaid of the dark?" Casey laughed.

"Aren't you even nervous?" Leo asked.

"Of course not."

"Then after you," Leo smiled, allowing him access to the door.

Casey realized he'd been baited, but he went anyway, slowly opening the door and cringing as the rusted hinges creaked loudly. He put the lantern in first, looking around for any signs of monsters, dead bodies or various other nasty things, and once he was satisfied, started to creep in. Leonardo followed close behind, one hand on the hilt of a dagger, while Raphael and Michelangelo came in after.

"It's just an empty room," Casey sighed in relief.

"Hey, look," Mike called out, "the walls have something on them! It looks like chalk." He passed his hand over the white markings that they soon discovered ran around the entire room.

They started to examine the markings, which they quickly figured out were letters, but none of them could tell what language it was in. As they walked around, no one noticed a bluish glow left behind where Raphael had just stepped, and it slowly grew and expanded into a full version of the blue pentagram they'd previously seen in the father's workshop. It shimmered and suddenly flared up like a gas flame, finally catching their attention.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Casey yelled, pulling his baseball bat.

"That's like where that green dude came out of!" Mike added.

Raphael turned to face what they were all looking at, and another pentagram started to spread out from his last footstep.

"Raph, there's one behind you," Leo said, pulling a dagger. Waving a sword around in such cramped conditions was asking for tragedy.

"Shit!" Raph backed up again, and they all watched as a third blue circle started up. "Where the hell are they coming from?"

"They're following you," Casey said. "It's like you're leaving them behind!"

"But why here?" Leo wondered, worried more about why's than how's. "Why now, when you've been all over this castle?" He looked at the walls, the strange markings that wrapped around the room. "We've got to erase it..." he whispered. "You said that thing was after a book, right?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, we only got company when we found the warlock's workshop."

"Casey, start erasing the walls!" Leo said. "I'm sure that's what he wants this time."

"But the monsters are gonna come through!" Casey groaned.

"We'll deal with those, now hurry up!" Leo glanced at his brother. "And Raph, try not to move again."

Raph gave him an incredulous look. "You gotta be kidding me! Do you know how fast those things move?"

"You want more than three to show up?" Leo asked. "If you take another step, there's a good chance we'll have even more company, and then we'll be outnumbered."

"Excuse me, I am still here!" Casey growled, wiping the markings with a rag he'd found.

"Shut up and keep cleaning!" Raph snarled back.

The circles suddenly flared up, burning in blue fire, and light flashed up out of them in tall columns. Dim outlines took form inside the light. Mike took a cautious swing with a nunchuck, but it only passed ineffectually through the shadow.

Leo took a deep breath. Those things looked downright vicious, even if he could only see their silhouettes. If they were going to fight effectively, they had to get whatever magic Raph had on him off. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and besides, Mike would rather be somewhere else anyway...

"Michelangelo," he said in a whisper.

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Take off. Get to the library, tell Riana we need her to get a spell off of Raph."

Mike shook his head stubbornly. "Then you'll really be outnumbered."

Casey glowered over his shoulder. "I am still here, you know!"

"Keep cleaning, Casey!" they all yelled.

"Mike, if you don't get Riana to help, it won't matter if you're here. If Raph takes one more step, we get another monster. Now move!"

Mike looked at the door, then back at the light, unable to decide.

"I'd really hate to have to throw you down the stairs," Leo growled.

"I'll be right back, I swear!" Mike said almost apologetically, racing outside and slamming the door behind himself.

"How come Mike always gets to take off during a fight?" Raph said, watching the monsters solidify in their pentagrams. Sending so many at once was making them come across slower than the first monster had. "And we have to stay and deal?"

"He's the fastest runner," Leo answered. "Do these things have hands?"

Raph nodded. "Yeah, and swords, too. They're not like the other monsters. You almost done, Casey?"

"Not quite!" Casey replied. "This wall's real dry, makes it hard to get this shit off."

As he finished talking, the lights died down and disappeared altogether. Three creatures, all wearing red caps and carrying obscenely long swords, advanced a step. But they didn't move toward Raphael, who was stuck in a corner unable to move, or towards Casey, who only had a baseball and a rag in his hands. Instead, they were heading towards Leonardo.

Leo took a step back. "Why are they all coming after me?" he asked his sibling.

"I dunno, maybe they like you," Raph said. Instinct started to take over, and he leaned forward, about to come within striking range.

"Raph! Don't move!" Casey reminded him, grabbing his shoulder before he could take a step.

On that cue, all three red caps screamed, waved their swords around, and lunged at Leonardo, who was forced back down the stairs and out of his brother's sight.

*

In the library, Shadow was playing with a few wooden chips off of the old table, sitting down in the center of the four adults.

"I don't think it's the wards themselves that are failing," Donatello said after awhile. "I think it's just their fuel source that's running out. Once it reached a certain level, it cut its use in half to conserve energy, then cut in half again, until it was just powering the last line of defense."

"So what exactly is the fuel source?" Riana asked, looking at the pictures in the book.

"Is it a sacrificed virgin?" April joked.

They all glanced at Venus.

"Hey, don't look at me!" she snarled.

"Honestly," Don laughed, "it's usually a dose of magick supplied by the warlock which should last around fifty to sixty years, until the next warlock who comes around."

"Actually," Riana cut in, "the men are usually witches, too. There are very few warlocks in the family."

"What's the difference between a witch and a warlock?" Shadow asked, plopping down next to Venus, who created a tiny ball of light for her to play with.

"A witch is someone who uses magick, either to help or hurt someone," Riana said. "A warlock is literally translated as an oath-breaker. They're usually evil and nae tae be trusted."

"Then why did your mother marry him?" April asked. "I'd have thought she'd stay as far away from him as possible."

"She dinnae have a choice," Riana said. "It was either marry him when he demanded her to, or watch her family's farm go under."

"He forced her to marry him?" Venus gasped.

"Ah never said he was nice," Riana said.

"Anyway," Don interrupted, bringing the conversation back to the main point, "all we need to do is create another fuel source for the wards. Unfortunately, there's a snag."

"Whut's that?" Riana asked.

"You, to be blunt. The spell can only run on masculine energy. Your magick is feminine."

"Ye mean the spell is set up tae be run by warlocks and male witches?" Riana asked.

Donatello nodded. "I think so. This family was patriarchal in more ways than one."

"But that means we have to find a male out there who'll cast the spell willingly," Venus argued. "Sorry, but that sounds impossible to me!"

"Wait a second," April interjected, getting up and going to the other table. She picked up the book she'd had out before and brought it back over, opening it up and flipping through pages until she found the right one. "Found it! Look, this is where I got all that information on those lay lines."

"Okay, so?" Don asked.

"So, it says these lines are either masculine or feminine. When I read it, I thought it was just a translation thing, y'know, where some words are male or female. But this castle is on two lines, right? So one of them must be male!"

"Which means we could tap into it and use it to keep the wards going," Don smiled in understanding. "Brilliant!"

"But how?" Venus asked, looking at the open pages. "It's running under the castle, and no one else ever thought of using it to keep the wards going?"

Riana sat back and sighed. "Ah'm sure they did. They must have. It's obvious once ye know aboot the lines. Ah think Ah know why they didn't. There's a lot of raw power in those lines, and redirecting just a bit of it would be risky. Yeh would need an...well, just to use the right word, an adapter, so to speak."

Donatello tilted his head, eagerly listening for clues to solve this new problem. "What kind of adapter?"

"Well..." she wondered, trying to think of the right description, "it would have to be magickal as well, but it would have tae be of a different source, so ye wouldn't confuse the two. It'd have to be easily manipulated, strong enough to contain it for a short time, and then ye'd have to be able tae pull it back once it wasn't needed anymore. To be honest, Ah don't know of any kind of magick like that."

"I do," Venus said quietly. She glanced up at them. "I can do that."

"Venus," Don started, but she waved him down.

"I'll be all right," she reassured him. "It won't be easy, and I'll probably be exhausted afterward, but...I can do it."

"Ye can do that?" Riana asked in surprise. "Ah haven't felt any kind of magick around yeh."

"It's not your type of magick," Venus explained. "It's not even really magick. It's more of a spiritual energy."

"So you can do it?" Don asked. "If you're sure, Riana and I can put the mechanics of the spell together."

Venus nodded. "Leo won't be happy about it, but I'll do it."

*

Knowing better than to fight on a staircase, Leonardo dashed down the steps, praying he wouldn't slip and tumble down the rest of the way. Just a few feet behind, he could hear the red caps rattling their swords and screaming bloody murder at him. He gripped the wooden railing as he went, getting dizzier with each turn. Finally he staggered out at the bottom, and for a few seconds he stumbled disoriented down the hall. When he turned around, the strange creatures were doing the same thing, struggling to get their equilibrium back.

Desperate to cut the number down by at least one, Leo drew one dagger, aimed, and threw it towards the nearest red cap. It missed the left eye and instead sank to the hilt in its shoulder. Its scream alerted the other two that they were under attack.

Leo drew another dagger, forced himself to concentrate despite the three huge swords all aimed at him, and threw again. This time he nailed the first one, and its writhing body fell to the floor in agony. The remaining pair didn't spare it a glance, instead charging once more at Leonardo.

Can't fight here, he thought as he ran, looking around for an exit. The hall's too narrow and someone else might come up here any minute now.

He turned one corner, then another, and desperation started to creep up on him. This castle had not been built for fighting, and those monsters were only a few feet away. One of them swung its sword, and he felt the metal slip over his shoulder, a hairsbreadth from an actual slice.

Damn it, I am not built to run! he complained to himself. His lungs would begin to cramp in a few minutes, and the battle needed to be over by then. He turned another corner and looked up. There was no way out, except through the open window at the very end of the hall. Leo tucked the daggers he was holding back into his belt and sped up in an all or nothing dash.

Just as he felt a blade cut through the stray ends of his bandana, he slid right through the window, turning as he went. By sheer luck, he managed to grab the ledge running along the wide of the castle. Moving to the left as fast as he could, he made sure he was well out of reach of the redcaps swords before he climbed up onto the ledge. The storm had only grown stronger and the winds threatened to throw him off the ledge. Lightning lit up the area for a moment, and he took the opportunity to look down. Too far to jump. The sound of metal scraping stone caught his attention and he glanced to his side. The creatures were climbing out of the window and easing along the ledge after him.

"Damn it, why the hell do you want me so bad?" he muttered. The stones around him were pretty weathered, but there were still some breaks and cracks that he could get a grip on. Making a tight turn, he faced the wall and started to climb. Rain made the stones slick, but after only a few minutes he had reached the roof, with the redcaps right behind him. The roof seemed to be tilted a bit, but he was certain that wouldn't affect the fighting.

Now this is enough room for a decent fight, he smiled darkly, bringing out his swords. He allowed his pursuers clamber up several feet away, but the two monsters did a double take when they saw that he had his own swords out.

"I'm not an easy kill," Leo laughed at their astonished faces. "Who's first?"

With an indistinguishable roar, they leaped at him simultaneously. The wind howled around them and thunder rumbled in distance as their swords clashed. Relieved that he had both of his katanas with him, he ducked one sword while parrying the other and kicked violently at the second creature. It howled in pain, staggering back several feet, and it raised its swords high into the air.

A brilliant bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and exploded on top it. When the light faded away, its red cap was smoking and its swords had partially melted.

We're all standing out here in a thunderstorm on a roof holding double lightning rods! Leo realized. This had to end now, or else all of them would be fried eventually and then it wouldn't matter who won.

Leaving the able redcap for a moment, he dashed over and swept the feet out from under the disoriented one. As he came back up with his first sword still holding the other at bay, his other sword cut across the roof and through the throat of the redcap on the ground. Its head rolled off along the slight tilt and fell over the side.

Leonardo's confidence boost at watching the head disappear faded when he heard the loud scream from inside the castle. Oh, hell, Raph must have moved! Without any time to spare, he didn't wait for the redcaps attack. Instead, he charged, once again surprising his enemy, who was more accustomed to people running or at least being extremely cautious. It brought its sword up in a hasty defense, which was easily circumnavigated. Leonardo rammed his sword up into its body, while the other sword sliced across its chest, and when he backed away, all of its internal organs spilled out of the two gashes. Not wasting time to watch it drop, he ran back to the window and climbed back inside.

As he scrambled back into the castle, however, he felt the rush of air that signaled the movement of weapon towards him. Before he was even halfway through the window, he put his arm forward and grabbed blindly for the offending object. Even if it was a sword, better a cut arm than a slit throat. His hand curled around a slender, round shaft of cold metal and he wrenched it away from whoever was holding it. When he was able to see who it was, though, he smirked.

"It shouldn't be that easy to disarm you, Raph," he laughed, tossing the sai back to his brother.

"I wasn't trying to skewer you," Raphael said. "I just wanted to see if it was you or a redcap coming in."

"They're both dead," Leo said, shaking his head. "And I think I left one in the hall."

"Yeah, Mike chucked it out a window before it could bleed everywhere. Don's pretty upset we didn't let him examine it first."

They both started walking back down the hallway, each of them wincing as the lightning crashed outside.

"Does Riana know why those things popped up?" Leo asked, trying to take his mind off the storm.

Raphael shrugged. "She says since Casey cleaned off all that writing, she doesn't know what exactly those things were after. She said she thought that room was boarded up." He sighed and looked away. "But she knows how they got here."

"Raphael?"

"I let them in."

"What?"

"I didn't know about it, Leo! It was those damn water nymph things, they planted something on me when they grabbed me."

"The undines planted a spell on you?"

Raph nodded with another sigh. "Like a tracer or something. Riana said the first redcap probably got in the same way."

Leonardo could hear the angry tone in his sibling's voice. "Raph, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known. But why would the undines be in on this? This doesn't make sense, unless that warlock can command so many spirits, and I don't think he can."

"I don't know, Leo," Raph mumbled. They went around a corner and started down the hallway towards the library. "Don and Riana said they were gonna work some more before going to sleep, and Venus was with them, too."

"Is everyone else asleep?"

"Either that or getting ready for bed. You might wanna take a shower, man. You look like something the cat dragged in."

They stopped by a window, where Leo took off his bandana and wringed it out. "Good idea. I'll take first watch, then Mike, then Casey. Venus can go last."

"Leo, I haven't been in a fight, I'm not tired," Raph argued. "I'll take the first watch."

Leonardo held his hand up to stop him. "I know, but I'm too wound up. I'm not going to be able to sleep for awhile."

"Want some tea?" Raph snickered.

"Smart-ass."

"Actually, I'd better take Venus' watch. She's gonna need her strength--"

Leonardo looked sharply at him, and Raphael realized he'd said a bit too much to the wrong person. "For what?" he asked.

"Look, Leo, it's her choice and she'll probably be fine."

The evasiveness was not helping his brother. Leonardo was about to launch into full-blown paranoia of what Venus was going to do when the library doors opened and Venus came out. She stared hard at Leonardo.

"We need to talk," she said simply.

"Yes, we do," he answered.

*

Deciding on a small room fairly far removed from the others, Venus sat down on the edge of a antique chair while Leonardo paced in front of her. The door was closed, not just for privacy, but also to muffle any angry remarks they might say in the heat of the moment.

"So...let me get this straight," he said slowly. "You're going to be the go-between for two intensely powerful forces of nature, while someone else manipulates the energies going through you?"

"Going through my own energy," she replied.

"No."

"Yes."

"Venus..."

"You said yourself they might need my energy!"

"Dammit, Mieh, do you want to be an magickal adapter?" he snapped. "What if you lose control? What if Riana loses control? Hell, it wouldn't be the first time Donatello's wrong! And if the enemy tries something while you're between magicks? Or, geez, you could just run out of energy--!"

"You're working yourself up!" she bit back. "You're getting too paranoid."

"No, I think you're not considering all the things that could go wrong," he argued. "The last time Donatello tried casting a spell, he blew his lab up."

"He always blows his lab up!"

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Riana's the one who will cast the spell, Donatello is just there to read for her."

"And you're willing to stick yourself between an illiterate, barely educated witch and a clumsy, absent-minded scientist?"

"Leonardo, that's not fair and you know it!" she yelled, stung by his description.

"Am I lying?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to hiss out a scathing reply, then shut it slowly. "No," she admitted. "But Leo...there's no other way. Would you hesitate, if you were in my place?"

He glanced away and didn't reply.

"Leonardo...answer me."

He sighed angrily and still wouldn't meet her eyes. "That isn't fair and you know it."

"Am I lying?" she asked

"Maybe not...but there are so many things that could go wrong," he said.

"You're just afraid I'll get hurt," she said softly. "And I can't promise that I won't be. But you have to trust that I'm practiced enough that I'll be fine if anything bad happens."

He looked back up at her. "You promise you won't let them talk you into anything insane?"

"I promise." She stood up and stepped behind him, putting one hand in his. "You know I'm not the one who has a death wish."

"I don't have a death wish," he said, lapsing into their familiar argument. "I'm just more comfortable with life-threatening situations than most people would be."

"You wanted to have a drink with that monster in the basement," she reminded him.

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I know..." Her voice dropped to a whisper as she edged a little closer. He turned his head slightly towards her, giving her that rare sincere smile that was barely visible. Her free hand came around his other arm--

"Hey guys!" Mike yelled, flinging the door open.

Before the door was even half-way open, Leonardo was leaning against the wall as casually as he could manage and Venus was back in her seat, examining a spare dagger. Mike narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he noticed the curtains rustle, as if someone had moved quickly just a moment ago.

"You guys okay in here?" he asked slowly.

They both gave him innocent stares.

"We're fine," Venus said. "We just finished working out my role in activating the warding spells."

Leonardo was about argue again, but with his brother in the room, he just held silent.

Mike noticed the tension in the room and nodded uncertainly. "Right...well, Leo, Riana says she thinks she knows why those things were after you, and you're never gonna believe it."

"That bad?" Leo sighed.

"Kinda, and the enemy is definitely after you in particular."

"This just gets better and better..." he groaned.

"You're just happy you're the target again," Venus smiled.

"Come on," he said, heading for the door. "We'd better find out what this is."

They followed Michaelangelo back downstairs to the living room, where Donatello and Riana seemed to be huddled next to the fire.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked.

"Muh castle tends ta be a bit drafty during storms," Riana apologized.

"Aren't you cold?" Don gasped, shivering next to her.

Leonardo shrugged and sat down on the sofa. "Not really. I was just out in that storm, so it feels warm in this room."

Mike just shook his head and plopped down on the opposite couch, curling into a tight ball. "You just aren't normal, man."

"I take it everyone's asleep but us," Venus said.

"And you should be, too," Leo said with an edge in his voice. Venus was about to argue when she realized she had pushed her luck far enough tonight. They didn't need another argument right now.

"All right," she conceded. "I'll see you in the morning."

As Mike watched her leave, he grumbled to his brother, "Are you gonna need me, or can I catch some sleep, too?"

Leonardo smiled despite himself and nodded. "Go ahead. You look like you're about to freeze solid anyway." Once his youngest sibling was gone, he looked at Riana. "All right. Why were those things after me?"

Riana and Donatello glanced at each other, then looked back. "Well," she started. "Ah wasn't certain before, when ah first saw ye, but after whut Donatello here has told me aboot you crashing every computer you come in contact with--"

Leo sighed and stared at his sibling. "You just can't let go of that, can you?"

"If you wouldn't come into my labs in the first place--!" Don started.

"Like Ah was saying!" she snapped at both of them. "Ye cancel oot things. Whether ye mean ta or not, anything that requires enough energy is obliterated when ye come near."

"What?"

"It means," Don said, as if he was talking to a small child, as he usually did, "that the reason the monsters are all after you is because if you got near this warlock, you could probably drain all his power away."

"I don't get it," Leo said. "That doesn't make too much sense. I cancel energy?"

Riana nodded. "It's not yuir fault, it's just the way ye were born. Of course, it's neither good nor bad. Yuir brother here creates energy, that's why he's so good with computers. And Raphael, he doesn't cancel it or create it, that's why he was such a good conduit for that spell. Yuir youngest brother is a bit creative, but Venus creates the most."

He allowed himself a moment to think about this, then looked up with a glint in his eye. "Do we have any idea where your father is hiding?"

"No, Leo, don't even think about that--" Donatello started, knowing exactly what his brother was thinking about.

"Ah'm sure ah know where," she spoke over him. "April found a few maps and spotted something. Deep in that forest is a burned out old ruin of a small castle, maybe a third the size of mine. If ah was gonna attack muh castle, Ah'd do it from there."

"Leonardo, you're in no condition to go on your own," Donatello started up again.

Leo glared at him, but he didn't argue. "I wouldn't go alone anyway, but you and Riana will need to stay here, along with April and Shadow and Venus. I'll probably just take Raphael and Mike with me."

"What, to guard the horses while you go in and get killed?"

"You have absolutely no confidence in me, do you?"

"Leo, you're a good fighter and good tactician, but I'd swear you have some kind of death wish. You go out against terrible odds and when you get back, you don't want any help."

"Not your help," Leonardo stated flatly. "I may have a death wish, but I wonder which side you're on at times. You inflict more pain than any enemy."

"If you wouldn't get so cut up in the first place--"

"Enough!" Riana cut in again. "Ye two are as bad as teenagers!"

They both stared at her in surprise, then started to laugh. She was surprised not only at their reaction, but that Leonardo in particular was laughing. He didn't seem the type.

"Maybe that's 'cause we are," Don chuckled, calming down.

"Teenagers?" she asked in amazement. They both seemed...older.

"Don, you'd better get some sleep," Leo said slowly, dropping the past argument. "You've got one hell of a day tomorrow and you'd better be alert."

Donatello nodded seriously. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to be perfect tomorrow..." He groaned and got up. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Leonardo was about to head upstairs when Riana stopped him. "Wait a moment, ah want to read yuir fortune," she said calmly. "If yuir going oot, ye should have a heads up."

"Can't hurt," he agreed, leaning forward. "Unless I cancel out your Tarot deck."

"Nay, ye won't," she smiled. "Just don't touch it or come too close, that is."

She took out her deck and shuffled it a few times, then looked up at him. "Focus on what ye'll be doing tomorrow, and who with, and ye should get an accurate reading."

He nodded. Through the woods, find the castle according to the maps or April's directions, and then...well, improvise from there.

She lay down the first card. Death. "Ah should have known it'd be ye," she sighed. "That's yuir signifier." She placed another down, and another, and another. They were all sword cards. He wasn't paying too much attention, though, since he really was thinking about what he'd be doing the next day.

Riana began to read the cards, then placed a few more down. "This should be a complete reading," she mumbled to herself. "Ye'll take...no one with ye," she said in surprise. "Wait...something's wrong. Ye'll be leaving really early tomorrow...and someone will be in grave danger..."

"Can you tell who?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Whoever it is will be helpless at that moment. But ye'll...ye an' yuir brothers...nay, brother and another, will follow...something dangerous...and...violence and bloodshed."

He could tell she was reading the cards' meanings independently of each other, but they were forming an eerie picture. "Who will win?"

"I dinnae know," she replied. "It's nae decided. But the danger will shift afterward, ta someone else."

"If you're leaving early tomorrow," Raphael's voice echoed from the top of the stairs, "you'd better get some sleep tonight."

"I thought I told you I was on first watch," Leo sighed, not in the mood for an argument.

"An' I thought you knew you ain't Splinter. Don's gotta be wide-awake tomorrow, and if you're taking off on a search and destroy mission, you might want to be in top condition, too." Raph smirked. "Of course, if you don't go to sleep, we'll both be on watch, so you might as well skip it."

"You can be so damn stubborn," Leo growled.

"And you're not?"

"Never."

"You're coming down off that adrenaline rush, Leo. It's only good for an hour or so more."

"Jerk."

"Always."

*

Part 5