Last Wish (Highland Magic #4)(16)
I dodged the blow just as the study was abruptly illuminated with a glowing white light. An odd sensation flitted through my stomach and I felt myself rise into the air, as if my system still had traces of the Levitation Gift I’d once stolen from a Fomori demon. If it hadn’t been for the glimpse I caught of Speck in the open doorway, his hands raised and a look of intense concentration on his face, I’d have believed that’s what it was.
I swallowed and went with the flow while the Bull staggered back a step, slack-jawed. ‘Oh you fool,’ I told him.
He cowered. ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Just don’t hurt me!’ His hands covered his head as if he were trying to protect himself from a blow.
My lip curled. ‘You have been punished already. You will suffer to the end of your days knowing that your daughter is gone as a result of your actions. Tell anyone of this encounter and you will be considered nothing more than a demented old man, turned mad by grief.’
He shook his head violently. ‘I won’t tell anyone!’
‘Promise me, Cul-chain.’
‘I promise!’
I watched him. He was telling the absolute truth; given that my use of his true name compelled him to do what I said, that was hardly surprising. But truth was rarely absolute. Just because he believed he’d stay quiet now didn’t mean he wouldn’t change his mind later. As Brochan had pointed out, he could find ways around the compulsion.
There was little I could do about it. I’d just have to enjoy the relative safety of my death for as long as I could and be prepared for things not remaining that way. I wondered what Byron would think. Would he regret jumping to Tipsania so quickly or had he been in love with her all along? It felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest, exactly where my heart used to be.
Behind the Bull, Speck was starting to tremble. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead; he couldn’t hold out for long. I gave him a brisk nod and, with relief, he released the spell and dropped me back to the ground with an unghostlike thump. The Bull started to look up but I growled at him.
‘I’m taking this,’ I told him, pointing at the photo frame. He flinched then both Speck and I were in the corridor and sprinting away soundlessly.
***
Morning was well under way by the time we arrived back at the Adair border. I remained silent for most of the journey, lost in my thoughts and assailed by a sense of grief for something I’d once almost had and now lost forever. The others had the sense not to press me. Unfortunately, that same sense didn’t apply to Sorley, on duty out by the flagpole with a few other trolls who were standing rigidly upright. Unlike his compatriots, Sorley was kneeling down and murmuring something, his squat fingers running over the fur of a nearby haggis. When he saw us approach he stood up and aimed an irritable kick in the little animal’s direction. I noticed that his foot wasn’t close to connecting with it.
‘You’re not supposed to be back yet,’ Sorley sniped when Speck rolled down the window. The troll was holding a clipboard in his hands; he tapped it with a gnarled fingernail and glared. ‘I’m responsible for everyone’s safety. If you don’t stick to the schedule, you make my life almost impossible.’
‘Sorley,’ Taylor groaned, leaning across to speak to him, ‘this really isn’t the time for your complaints.’
‘Oh yeah, dunderhead? Then when is the time? There was another contingent of Sidhe here while you were gone. This time they said that if all the trolls didn’t return to their posts within the next seventy-two hours, they’d come down here and make us.’ He glared and pointed to some scorch marks on the ground on this side of the border. ‘Look at what they did!’ he spat. ‘They said it was a warning.’
I grimaced. Wonderful. ‘How many of them were there?’ I asked. As much as I might want to go up to my bedroom with a bottle of wine, a ton of chocolate and Joni Mitchell on repeat, I couldn’t abandon my duties as Chieftain. And one of those was making sure that all of my Clan members were safe.
Somewhat mollified at being taken seriously, Sorley’s hold on his spear relaxed. ‘Seven,’ he grunted. ‘All from Clan Moncrieffe.’
I cursed. That wasn’t good; anything that the Moncrieffes did was a worry. Still, I reasoned, in a half-arsed attempt to be logical, at least concentrating on the wedding and trying to find Tipsania would distract Aifric from the trolls for a while.
‘One of them was a Farsenser,’ Sorley added, destroying any silver lining I thought I’d found.
‘Shite!’ I exploded, causing everyone – even the trolls – to turn and gape at me. I sighed. ‘Sorry. But the Bull told me that Aifric has got Farsensers out searching for Tipsania.’
‘They don’t have much reach though, do they?’ Brochan said. ‘A mile or two?’
I ran a hand through my hair, teasing out the tangles and trying to stay calm. ‘Based on what I know from stealing farsensing, yeah. Some will be better at it than others, of course. There was no reason for them to come down this close to the Veil to look for her so I didn’t worry about it before, but now…’ My voice trailed off.
‘They’d be trying to work out how many trolls are here. Or to search for weak spots in the border,’ Taylor said, in an attempt to ease my worry, ‘not Farsense for her.’
I gritted my teeth. ‘It doesn’t really matter why they came here to begin with. They’d have been on the alert for her presence so we have to assume that they know now that she’s here. They can’t pass through the border and drag her out because of the trolls, so they’re going to try something else.’