Wraith(85)

‘You’re not going alone.’

That was what I’d been planning to do but I could hardly stop him from coming with me. I shrugged in irritation. ‘Whatever.’

‘We’ll take a look at what they’re doing and I’ll figure out how to open this box. As soon as we have it unlocked, we’ll know where to find the Stone of Scone. Maybe I should just break it open.’

‘That might work.’ I avoided looking at him directly. Focus on the Stone, I told myself. That was what was important.

‘Saiya,’ he sighed. He hesitated. He was obviously thinking the same as I was. ‘You brought back this box here. You obviously don’t want the goblins to find the Stone any more than I do. Let’s deal with it and then we’ll sort out this thing between us later. Okay?’

I glared at him. ‘Okay.’ I yanked myself away from him. ‘Come on then. Let’s see if you’re good enough to keep up.’ I turned round and scuttled out through the small exit. I shouldn’t have felt relieved when I heard him start to follow. I did though.





Chapter Twenty-Two


Dawn was already breaking. The faintest golden glow was visible and, instead of simply being a looming dark shape, Stirling Castle was silhouetted against the sky in all her majesty. Fronds of pink were emerging and, here and there, bird call sounded across the city.

Neither of us paid any attention. The expression on Gabriel’s face was as steely grey as the lump of stone that was lodged deep in my heart. We might be slipping through the streets together and working towards the same goal but we couldn’t have been further apart. He could barely look at me; he kept his attention trained on the box, continuing to fiddle with it as if it were miraculously going to open because he willed it.

My mind drifted back to what we were like in the cave, before he’d discovered the truth. My earlier rage had vanished – in truth it had been born out of fear and hurt more than anything else. Now I was simply filled with sadness and pain. So much for a life of happiness with my soul mate. Gabriel obviously believed me to be a monster.

He broke the silence, muttering a frustrated curse.

I glanced at him. ‘You should just break it open like you said. Smash it against the cobbles or something.’

For a moment, I wasn’t sure he was going to answer. ‘I could do that,’ he said finally. ‘But there might be a mechanism inside to guard against that sort of action. Breaking the box might destroy the contents. That would be a good thing of course…’

‘…if it weren’t for the fact that the Filits might still find the Stone on their own,’ I finished for him.

We exchanged a grim look. If I thought that Gabriel was starting to ease up, I was sadly mistaken. He tore his gaze away from mine. ‘You’re right about one thing,’ he said grudgingly.

‘What’s that?’

‘Something’s not right. It’s too quiet here. Where are all the goblins? Is it normally this deserted in the centre of the city at this time in the morning?’

I was about to answer him when, up ahead, there was the sound of a brief yelp, followed by a door slamming. The sound reverberated up the street. Oh shit.

‘Gabriel,’ I said in warning. ‘We…’

I didn’t have time to finish my sentence. There was a brief guttural yell followed by the sound of heavy clomping boots. A moment later, Filit goblins marched up around us, appearing from every street and alleyway. There were hundreds of them and there was no doubting their target. They encircled Gabriel and me impassively, leaving us barely a few metres of space. This was a well-practised manoeuvre. There wasn’t a gap through which we could hope to escape and the goblins had to be twelve deep; they were taking no chances.

Gabriel, in what was probably a reflex action rather than anything else, began to raise his hands and mutter even though Ange’s trinket box was still in his fist.

A swarthy Filit lunged forward. ‘Arms down and shut up,’ he snarled.

Gabriel stiffened and I thought that he was about to argue or to attack the goblin head on. Gritting my teeth, I leaned over to him. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, we’re surrounded.’

His jaw tightened. ‘We can’t just give in,’ he muttered. ‘You’re a damned wraith. You do something.’

Like what exactly? Before I could snap a response, a loud echoing laugh came from high up on the rooftops. I craned my neck, my heart sinking when the owner of the laugh came into view, striding over the nearest tiled roof to grin down at us.

‘I was so sure that you would notice us before we managed to get close,’ Ghrashbreg said. ‘Dark Elves’ skills are supposed to be legendary. I mean, you single-handedly caught a wraith sneaking into your room. You have magic at your fingertips. You even escaped the effects of deadly poison.’ He leapt down, landing on the pavement in front of us with considerable agility. It was only a few metres but few goblins could manage such a feat due to their dense bone structure. I wondered whether Ghrashbreg did Pilates in his spare time to limber up.

‘Lord Ghrashbreg.’ There was no mistaking the venom in Gabriel’s voice. ‘What a pleasant surprise.’

Ghrashbreg’s smile grew. ‘Indeed. And how kind of you to retrieve my box.’ He reached for the trinket box.

Gabriel didn’t yield it. ‘It’s not yours.’