Luck is a two-sided coin landing on its side—unpredictable at best. A warrior should never rely on it and pray it doesn’t turn against them.

~Lugh, God of Battle and Craft

Lily and Crow looked at each other before the little man pointed at her.

“Waiting for the fae, ye shite spittle.”

“I’d like to be offended, but you curse like an elderly woman,” Crow retorted, and Lily giggled.

“Oh ho ho, ye got some spine.”

“You are a Munster leprechaun, right? Did you kill all these people?”

“Now, why would ye go an’ accuse me of doin’ somet’ing as foolish as that? Can’t play with corpses now, can ye?” The short man laughed.

“I certainly wouldn’t, but you… I’m not so certain,” Crow said, unsure why he felt the need to antagonize the little bastard.

“Ye bugger! Is that how ye talk to yer elders? Shite! Ye know what I am, yet ye think little ol’ me is evil? What’ve yer ancestors taught ye?”

As Crow looked at Lily, she looked unsure but tentatively nodded in agreement. Ultimately, he felt his position on the leprechaun had changed. Before talking to the short man, he adamantly believed that the coins caused all this.

“Then what happened here?”

“Prank gone wrong,” the leprechaun chuckled. “I may’ve left a trail of coins leading to a deep crevice, but I’m not to blame fer them blasting the hole wide open. Their greed disturbed those grub things. Even I don’t know what those things are, so how’m I supposed to know their hive mind intelligence is above normal?”

“How is that possible?” Crow asked. “I’ve fought plenty of them. A whole hideout should’ve been able to take them down.”

“Small’uns, right? ‘Bout size of my arm?” Seeing Crow nod, the leprechaun laughed. “Do yer know what they become after transforming?”

“No…?”

“Cinnabar Death Beetles. Ye saw the corpses, not a spec o’ flesh on them bones. Didn’ e’en leave a scrap o’ clothing, yea? Now ye know, them things are best avoided.”

Crow paled a little because anything in the Cinnabar class of beasts was highly toxic. If the grubs could eat through stone, devouring flesh would seem like child’s play. One thing he couldn’t figure out was why the bones were left.

“Thinking little ol’ me lied to ye? Bones are protected by minerals that those t’ings can’t digest. They dissolve stone, but if you look at their tunnels, ye’ll see they left behind minerals and metals. Now stand aside. Me and the li’l miss should talk.”

Lily flew in front of Crow and waved her hands, forming strange symbols in the air. Her little finger drew various runes, but they were tiny compared to Crow’s. The leprechaun nodded, and his little fingers did the same. When the two runes smashed into each other, they merged and grew brighter.

A faint ripple of mana brushed against Crow, and he activated his vision abilities. It was evident that the surrounding mana was disturbed, and that combined rune absorbed that energy.

“What’s happening?”

Using her spare hand, Lily pointed at the gold, then the leprechaun, then at the sky. Pointing at the gold again, she mimed snatching it.

“Are you saying someone robbed gold from Tuatha?” Crow asked, shocked that anyone had that ability.

“Ye brat! No one can steal my gold without bringing down a bloodline curse on them. The amount stolen determines how many generations are impacted. It—err—was misplaced.”

Lily waved, pointed to the leprechaun, and then mimed he wasn’t a banker. The Munster leprechauns were more social than the other clans and widely traveled. Retrieving things from the mortal world was something they’d do as part of a contract.

“How long have you been here?”

“Hard to say, lad. What’s yer name?”

“Crow, son of Maddox.”

“Ye can call me Donovan. Since yer bonded to the li’l miss, yer bound to soar or find an early grave. We little folk may not have many redeeming traits, but giving ye a little luck is within me power.”

“Are you pulling my leg to get out of giving me a proper reward?” Crow asked. “Not that I need it since I’ve done nothing deserving of one.”

“Oi, ye lack understanding of the world beyond this realm. Luck is real, and it isn’t related to karma. We Lucharacháin are beings of extraordinary luck, and yes, it is a reward we can give.”

Crow looked at Lily, who nodded, which was beyond his expectation. His maternal grandmother mentioned taking the luck of Gideon, but he had assumed it was some sort of metaphor.

“Then what is luck? Isn’t it the benefit of positive karma?”

“Ye are a prime example of luck. Do ye think unfated live long? No amount of karma can save someone like ye, but luck can. Karma might have brought you before me but had you picked up that coin out in the hall, you wouldn’t have gained any benefits and would’ve ended in a miserable state.”

“So luck is an intangible force of primordial tricksters?” Crow laughed and spewed out some nonsense. The leprechaun fell from his perch when he heard what Crow said—even Lily was staring at him.

“Ye… really are touched. I’ve no idea how ye jumped to that from the random nonsense I was filling ye with, but now I’m afraid t’say anyt’ing else.”

“Huh,” Crow murmured, stunned that he had jokingly grasped the situation at hand. “So the luck you are giving me is more like a blessing, which makes tricksters view me favorably? Are these beings like the Sluagh?”

“Ye-ye-ye know o’ the Wild Hunt? What have ye been through, lad?”

Crow didn’t talk about the Sluagh any further, afraid of violating some unspoken rules. However, if he wasn’t wrong, then the thing Donovan hinted at was the Daoine Maithe. Like the Sluagh, they were a collective force or entity comprised of fairy-like creatures. Unlike the Sluagh, their existence wasn’t formed by a universal need. The Daoine Maithe was free to act on their own whimsies. Their collective wasn’t as gods but as an intangible force.

Leprechauns might have a relationship with them, which is why Donovan claimed he could give him luck. It was probably just a way to mark him as favored by the Lucharacháin, which wouldn’t be bad. Getting a nudge by a primordial force like luck was a better reward than all the gold sitting on the other side of the room.

Donovan flipped a platinum-colored coin toward Crow, who caught it and felt a faint force humming within the strange metal.

“Keep it safe, lad. Ye may never see another one the rest of yer short life.”

Crow’s Shield lit up as he stored it away.

“May I ask what you two are doing with that rune?”

“It’s a beacon. Soon, an envoy of Tuatha will arrive and help me return with the gold. I’ve been waiting hundreds of years fer a fae to appear because it takes two from Tuatha to form the beacon rune.”

An hour later, Crow felt nauseous. A power he didn’t understand was pressing on him, and he coughed up blood a few times because of the pressure. Lily looked over at Crow nervously.

“Lay down, lad. I’m afraid this isn’t something yer allowed to see. Ye’ll sleep for a time, and when ye awake, I’ll be gone. If luck serves, we may meet again in Tuatha. I’ll give you one bit of advice to survive in the lower and upper realms… never underestimate the little people!”

Donovan laughed while Crow lost consciousness.