Last Wish (Highland Magic #4)(75)

‘No.’

‘Then,’ I said, without irony, ‘take me to your leader.’

‘No.’

I scratched my head. Okay, then.

The demon gave a guttural noise and two more appeared and walked past him. They looked more nervous than him as they hauled me up by my armpits until I was face to face with their apparent boss, even if he wasn’t the boss.

‘We know of your prophecy,’ the demon said.

‘Prophecies are tricky things,’ I returned. ‘They often don’t come true.’

He inclined his head and a length of straggly hair fell from his forehead. He tucked it behind his ear with one gnarled hand. ‘You are correct. It is also true that to blame the individual for the words of a prophecy is to blame the tide for rising.’

I was starting to like this guy. ‘So,’ I said softly, ‘there is no need for us to be at odds with each other.’

He smiled for the first time. ‘There is plenty of need for that. Furthermore, the Fomori are not in the habit of taking chances, even if we are less bloodthirsty than our Sidhe neighbours.’

Less bloodthirsty? I’d seen compelling evidence to the contrary so that was an interesting statement. ‘The prophecy is vague,’ I pointed out. ‘It could refer to anything.’

‘Vague?’ he asked.

‘It means—’

‘I know what the word means. There is nothing vague about the prophecy however.’

I was prepared to argue the point, even though the demons on either side of me had tightened their grip painfully. ‘One Adair will save Scotland.’ I shrugged. ‘Or Alba, anyway. That could mean anything. Technically, the Lowlands are part of Scotland.’ I leaned forward as much as I could. ‘We are all Alba.’

‘That is not what the prophecy says.’ His lip curled. ‘One Adair will destroy Alba.’

I shook my head vehemently. ‘No! That’s not the wording.’

‘Yes, it is.’ He regarded me calmly. ‘Your own king confirmed it.’

I almost spat. Aifric. ‘He is no king.’

‘Whatever.’ The demon flicked his hand dismissively. ‘We are not monsters, regardless of what your kind may believe. But we will not take chances either.’ For a brief moment, I saw sympathy flicker in his eyes. Then he gestured to the other two. ‘Bring her.’ He turned on his heel and left.

***

I was dragged through many narrow corridors. Given how vast this place was, together with the fact that it appeared to be made entirely of stone, there was only one answer: I was in Edinburgh Castle. That was both good and bad.

I kept my eyes peeled and my wits about me, trying to learn as much as I could during the uncomfortable journey. Other than a large number of closed doors and a lack of decoration, there was little I could work out. The silence, however, was gradually giving way to a strange sort of thunder. I’d never been past the Veil when the weather was anything but hot and muggy but it was possible that storms occurred.

Eventually I was taken up a winding flight of stairs. A female demon was waiting at the top; she glared at me with such ferocity that I thought she was going to kill me right then and there. Instead she unlocked the door next to her and I was shoved inside.

Shaking my head and rubbing the bruises on my arms, I looked around. The noise was deafening. It waxed and waned but it sounded too unnatural to be a storm. I still couldn’t work out what it was.

‘It’s you!’

I jumped half out of my skin. From the shadowed corner of my latest holding pen came the tiny, familiar figure of a pixie. The last time I’d seen her, she was chained to a wooden pole on Arthur’s Seat. Now she didn’t look any the worse for wear for the experience; she was smiling so broadly, I wondered if her cheeks would split.

‘You’re here to save us,’ she breathed. ‘You came back.’

Uh-oh. I was here chancing my arm because I was out of other options and the Fomori army was on the verge of invading the Highlands. I was as much of a prisoner as she was, even if I had a plan or two up my sleeve. Taking the cautious route, I shook my head. ‘If only,’ I muttered.

She stared at me. ‘You’re right,’ she said eventually. ‘There’s always someone listening.’ She glanced round and raised her voice. ‘You hear me? We’re not imbeciles! We’re not going to fall for your stupid plots!’ I gaped at her. She turned her head and winked, then settled down in a heap on the floor.

‘Where are we?’

‘Castle, of course.’

I nodded. ‘Yes, but…’

‘Arena,’ she said sourly. ‘We’re in the holding pen for the arena.’

Nausea rose in my stomach. That sounded… ‘That’s cheering, isn’t it?’

The pixie nodded and my shoulders sank. So the arena was some kind of gladiatorial hell-pit. ‘They think it makes them civilized,’ she spat. I didn’t need to ask who they were. ‘Instead of killing us outright, they pretend to give us a way out. Win and you’ll be freed.’ She paused. ‘As if. No one ever wins.’

‘Execution as sport,’ I whispered. Even Aifric wouldn’t conceive something so horrific. No wonder the Fomori hadn’t hurt me.

The door opened and the scowling female demon entered, carrying something on a tray. She thrust it at me and muttered a string of incomprehensible Fomori sentences.