The Hound and the Keeper 2 (Patreon)

The Hound and the Keeper 2 - or ‘The things I have to do to keep Lil’ Bro out of trouble’ (Nasuverse!Ulster's Cycle, feat. Cu and SI!Bro)

Setanta was happy, I was not.

Today our grandfather had us prepare for war, and I was not truly happy with what was up. Setanta had done a fuck up just a month ago about wanting to get a weapon because ‘Cathbad had said he was going to be famous’.

The prophecy he had mentioned was actually halfway through its completion as the full statement was ‘the guy that gets a new weapon today will be famous, but they will die young’.

So yes, not only do I have to be a good brother and fuck up those that tried to kill us both, but not I have to be a 24/7 Mutt Minder because my puppy brother was rushing into red flags!

Still, I wasn’t… that upset over the war itself. It had to happen after this guy, Nechtan Scene, made a boast about his sons killing more Ulstermen than there were alive. I have heard some people had gone missing in recent times but I didn’t expect the murder rate to be caused by three pricks going around and murdering our group.

It was like playing in a gang war- and this claim was both murderous and suicidal. Murderous as it meant that no chance for peace was available regardless of how much of a pacifist one can be, but also Suicidal because these three didn’t know what they were up to.

Setanta was giddy was fuck as he was training some more with his lance during the journey and… I stared at my ax. The runes I had some magicians apply on it were making it more resilient and empowered by fire-related powers. It wasn’t perfect- at least not as close as Grandpa’s ‘handout lance’ to Setanta was as it was the only weapon the moron could handle without mistakenly breaking it but…

It was fine for now.

Mounting on a horse, the journey to track down the three brothers proved to be easier than I had been worried about: they weren’t even hiding, the trail of murder that they were still carving enough to give us a solid lead.

And one that took us to them in less than a week.

Fannell, Foill, Tuchell. The trio were seemingly normal warriors, but their magic was what made them a true threat to most individuals as those were tied to… shadows. Fannell could manifest tendrils of darkness from all shadows around, Foill could project shrouds from those and cover for the tendrils, while Tuchell was the ‘Shadow Clone Jutsu’ problem-causer.

The three of them were deadly against an army of common Ulstermen, regardless of the discipline and physique many had during this time. But… against us, they proved to be quite easy to beat.

At this point, I remember that Setanta was meant to struggle a bit, tap into his divine power and go berserk until he got to see lots of tiddies and got bathed in cold water for a while.

While I know my brother would love to be welcomed by breasts as a distraction, I doubt he would then appreciate getting his world brought steps closer to pseudo-hypothermia.

Where this would have been a difficult battle for someone like Setanta as he lacked any knowledge of elemental power, my weaker but flexible weapon was the key to success.

An introduction that set the trio up for another carnage came through before the battle, and I was glad  that the most concerning of the trio came forth first. Tuchell was a dangerous ‘one-man army’, but one that was as arrogant as his brothers were.

We didn’t give them the chance to understand how fucked up they were until they were dead. Raising my ax up, I then slammed the weapon’s sharp end against the ground right as Tuchell’s little clone army tried to get to us, my attack successfully shredding the shadows while also scorching the first of the three brothers.

The shock on the face of the two remaining siblings was their second mistake. Setanta had rushed to the side, the flames covering for him as he rapidly bolted to get right to Fannell’s exposed flank.

Before he could have mustered any tentacles to restrain my brother, Fannell was stabbed on the chest, right through his heart. The remaining sibling reacted instinctively, trying to rush some shrouds at Setanta but he was stopped mid-incantation as my ax came flying through the flames and into his turned face.

The entire battle lasted less than a hour and the end result was that we had to put more effort in putting the flame away than killing the motherfuckers. Good news is that we were able to salvage their heads to be sent ‘back home to their parents’, so that should put an end to the feud for the time being.

It wasn’t going to be a permanent peace, but we made our point clear on unwarranted murdering in Ulster.

Our return was sober compared to what Setanta had wanted- he could see however that it was ‘good’ considering what little we had to do. Truth be told, the reason why our grandfather limited the celebrations was because of one that would happen two days after our return.

High King of Ireland Eochu Feidlech was visiting with his daughters, some of which were our grandpa’s own wives. The way this worked was confusing, but out of the trio that came along, one was detested the most: Queen Medb of Connacht.

Now, I bet many think they know where this is going and… Let me tell you something about meeting ‘Queen Medb’. It was ‘confusing’ compared to what I imagined as the woman looked to be far too old to be within the year range to then seduce my brother. In fact, I doubted she could last long enough to survive our grandfather but…

But then I realized something rather shocking. If there is something that many historians agree upon in regard to the Ulster Cycle is that there are numerous mistakes made in trying to understand who is one Medb and who is another.

It was a tale as old as time itself that somehow a legendary character may be confused with a contemporary or even with a deity. But, in this interesting case, the misunderstanding wasn’t there as I had the answer to that skepticism.

Queen Medb of Connacht was our grandfather’s wife (and the conspiring bitch as legend has her to be), but she wasn’t the only one with that name.

Princess Medb, daughter to the High King’s second daughter Eile, was actually around her age. And with pink hair of all possible hair colors.

And to make things worse-

“Nice to meet you, Setanta and Eoin. I hope we can be good friends!”

I know this one will do a large part of the late Medb’s bad deeds so… who ruined this adorable and well-behaving child?

—--------d-d-d-d—-----

AN

Two Medbs?! Next time... Princess Medb's POV!