Caledonia Fae 04- Druid Lords Read online

  Chapter 14

  Lisle watched the four young men discuss the portal they intended to create. The goal was ambitious. Although she didn’t want to speed them on their way to Amsterdam and the secrets they might uncover there, their innovation and excitement enticed her. For the first time in an age, curiosity sparked within her.

  They were new to their power and lacked access to even the basic lore that had been passed down through her family. Still, they worked competently as a unit. She had difficulty piecing together their stories. Three of them spoke with thick Scottish brogues. The American, at least, had an accent she easily understood. Although she wouldn’t want Huck to suspect, she felt kindly towards him because of his fierce determination to help Demi. If his resolve would stay as strong after he discovered the truth, Lisle wasn’t certain. As she’d done so many times over the decades, she pushed her fear and worry aside and focused.

  She’d given up thinking she would keep her secrets forever. She would be as strong as she had to be and hold out as long as possible. As always, family was everything.

  ∞

  Munro didn’t sense Eilidh’s presence in the Halls of Mist, so she must have returned to Caledonia. Disappointment twisted in his gut. He missed her and wanted her advice on the problems at hand. Maybe he should step through the portal and send word for her to meet him here. He sighed. Even if he did, she probably couldn’t arrive before they’d need to leave. Besides, they planned to travel through Caledonia anyway. He hoped she’d stayed nearby and wasn’t at the furthest reaches of the kingdom, otherwise he couldn’t justify a detour to see her before moving on to Amsterdam.

  He walked quickly to the library, his steps turning into a jog. His rushing gait drew the attention of faeries in the streets, but at the moment, he didn’t care about decorum. Someone had to stop Konstanze from this destructive madness. Three days. That was all the time they had to save Demi’s life. A sinking feeling in his chest told him it wouldn’t be enough.

  Racing downward, he descended into the library. He stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the bottom and saw Eilidh, Oszlár, and Flùranach waiting for him.

  “I sensed your anxiety as you approached,” Eilidh said. What she didn’t explain was why he didn’t feel her emotions. Why had she erected a barrier between them? The last time she had done so, they were having a serious argument, back before she’d even become a queen.

  Questions filled his thoughts, but for the moment, he had to stay focused. “Rory needs Flùranach,” he said.

  Flùranach bowed her head to him. “I’ll go now,” she said and flicked her eyes to Oszlár. When the old keeper nodded, she scurried to the stairs and left the three of them alone.

  “We’re planning another trip to the human realm. We don’t have much time,” Munro said.

  “Come,” Oszlár said. “Let us go into my study where we can enjoy some privacy. I can only assume Konstanze was less than reasonable.”

  They followed the elder faerie, who led them back into the private keepers’ quarters. “It’s worse than I thought possible,” Munro told them. “She’s trying to use this thing with Demi to destroy the Druid Hall.” The trio sat in Oszlár’s study, and Munro related the story, Konstanze’s demands, and what little they learned from Demi.

  “What do you hope to learn in Amsterdam?” Eilidh asked.

  “Some proof of her innocence?” he said. “Both she and her grandmother are definitely hiding something. I just don’t think Demi killed Ulrich. And there’s no way Konstanze would execute her if we proved Demi’s innocence. Finding evidence might be a way to dodge the whole mess.”

  Eilidh frowned. “Who do you believe did kill Ulrich?”

  “That’s the problem. If Demi confessed but didn’t commit the murder, then we’re left with two obvious possibilities: Lisle and Jago.”

  “The child?” Eilidh looked horrified. “He’s a baby.”

  “Exactly. He’s four years old. Even full-blooded fae children couldn’t best an adult faerie as powerful as Ulrich. That leaves the grandmother. Who else would Demi give a false confession for? On the other hand, even if Demi suspects her grandmother and confessed on her behalf, we can’t be certain she’s right. We must consider whether one of Ulrich’s men killed him, maybe on Konstanze’s orders, and Demi is merely fearing the worst. The queen was adamant her brother wasn’t azuri, even though he must have been. Perhaps his alignment and his having a lethfae child were more than Konstanze was prepared to deal with.”

  Eilidh met Oszlár’s gaze, and Munro sensed something significant passing between them. Trying his best to ignore the exchange, he went on. “Even if we discover proof of Lisle’s guilt, we’d be in a better position than we are now. She’s safe with us. But as long as we find evidence Demi wasn’t the one who murdered Ulrich, we have hope of getting her and her son back. To do that, we must return to Amsterdam.”

  “The girl is due to be executed in two nights. Without access to the Ashkyne gates, you will find it difficult to return by then,” Oszlár said.

  “That’s why I need you to stall her. Besides, all the evidence in the world won’t help if Konstanze refuses to listen. I asked her for a public trial in the Halls of Mist, but she shut me down. I hoped you would be able to persuade her.”

  Oszlár tilted his head to the side as he considered. “There is no body that has ever made such a judgement as the one you’re requesting. The Halls are a place of utter neutrality. We wield no authority in the kingdoms.”

  Munro’s hopes fell. “There’s no precedent, even in the distant past?”

  “I will speak to the other keepers,” Oszlár said. “One thing is for certain: the Druid Hall must stand and grow stronger. The future of our race depends on your survival.” The keeper’s cryptic pronouncement wasn’t the first of its kind. Judging by the grim, stubborn set to his mouth, the old faerie had no intention of explaining his insights into the future. “No matter what the fate of this one druid,” he continued, “the Hall must stand.”

  “You’re saying we should sacrifice one for the good of the whole,” Munro said. His stomach churned. He hated the idea, but hadn’t he made a similar argument to Huck? “We lose either way. If we back down, we’re in a weakened position, but aren’t we equally damaged if Konstanze executes one of us, proving we’re powerless to stop her? Jesus. What if she’s right? What claim do we have to power?”

  “I will confer with the keepers and scholars to see if there is anything we can use to influence her decision,” Oszlár said. “Konstanze is most displeased with us since the Source Stone chose Caledonia over Ashkyne.”

  “Surely she understands the keepers don’t control the Stone,” Munro said.

  Oszlár shrugged. “The Stone has slept for a long time.”

  That was no kind of answer, but Munro knew better than to push the keeper when the old faerie was in a cryptic mood. In all their time working together, Oszlár never revealed anything he didn’t want to. “Which reminds me,” Munro said. “The guys are working on a portal of our own.” At that announcement, Eilidh’s eyes widened and the keeper looked up sharply. “I don’t hold out much hope they’ll produce a working gate before we need to leave for Amsterdam. Who the hell knows if it’ll ever work? But…not all of us are going, so I’ll send Douglas and Aaron over to study the Stone while we’re gone. It’s a long shot, but maybe they can learn something useful by reading the runes on and around the chamber downstairs.”

  “A working gate?” Eilidh said. “To which kingdom? Caledonia?”

  “Directly to the human realm from the Halls of Mist. In their first attempt, they think they got a glimmer of the Isle of Skye. With a bit of work and experimentation, I suspect we’ll do it, but I doubt the hour I gave them will be enough.”

  “You’re trying to bypass the kingdoms to travel directly into our borderlands?” She sounded stunned and affronted. The news sent her reeling and her control slipped, giving Munro a glimpse of her emotional state. Her mind was in
utter chaos. Everything about her energy felt wrong. But his insight lasted only seconds before she rebuilt the wall between them. Trying to figure out what he’d seen was like trying to remember a dream that slipped away upon waking.

  “Your borderlands are our homeland. We have as much right to the human realm as you do to the Otherworld. We don’t need anyone’s permission.” The statement came out angrier than he intended. He was just so damned tired of secrets and lies. Demi’s, Lisle’s, Oszlár’s, and even Eilidh’s.

  “Of course not, my lord druid,” she said. Her sudden capitulation sounded patronising, and her words annoyed him as much as if she’d picked a fight with him. At least if they argued, they’d be honest about what they were feeling.

  Munro sighed. They were supposed to get married soon. This wasn’t the way he planned to start their lives. Part of him did want to move back to Caledonia to be with her more. Had he spent too much time away? “Look,” he said. “Our efforts are nothing against you or your authority in the kingdoms or even in the borderlands. But as long as we need a queen’s permission to get to our own world, we’re vulnerable. What if all the queens decided to cut us off completely? What if we lose the faeries who support us at the Druid Hall? Even our food comes from the kingdoms, unless you count a few rows of vegetables and a couple of fruit trees.”

  Her expression softened. “I would never do that, my love.”

  He took her hand, relieved the angry moment had passed. “I have to think about what happens after you and I are gone.” Standing, he helped her to her feet as well. “Thank you, keeper,” he said to Oszlár with a respectful nod. “I know you’ll do everything you can. Douglas and Aaron will be here within the hour. Douglas appears to have a knack with the runes. I’m hopeful they’ll learn something useful.”

  The keeper rose and gave a slight bow to both Eilidh and Munro. “Your Majesty. My lord druid.”

  ∞

  Rory’s concentration fluttered as he inscribed a rune above the cupboard door frame. The others had helped him remove the door from its frame, but during the procedure, something intruded on his thoughts. Flùranach. He didn’t catch what she was thinking or even exactly where she was, but she skittered on the edges of his focus. Doing his best to centre his mind, he tried to ignore her pulsating excitement and finish the job at hand. Runework didn’t come as naturally to him as it did to Munro or Douglas. The younger druid’s talent surprised Rory, but he was glad to discover another weapon in their arsenal. They needed every advantage they could find.

  Rory’s real talent was in shaping wood with the flows. Even as he ran the stylus over the frame, he detected the minute changes in the grain beneath his hand. He completed the rune for gate, much the same as he’d done on the slab earlier. This time he didn’t hesitate to spit into his hand and rub the fluid over the surface. Much to his surprise, the wood became instantly malleable, curving with his touch. It creaked, answering his unspoken request. It would never fit the opening any more, as the once-square frame became a gracefully arched entrance.

  “There,” he said, stepping back. He turned to the others and caught Lisle staring intently at his work, an eager gleam in her eye. The old bat was cannier than she let on. Her expression reminded him of a storybook witch.

  “Who’s next?” Douglas asked.

  “Not me,” Huck said. “I want to help, but I’m afraid I can’t control my fire magic enough. I might burn the whole thing down.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Aaron said. He pulled a small reed talisman from his pocket, one trinket of many they had crafted and carried around with them. The pen-shaped instrument fit Aaron’s hand perfectly. When he touched the surface of the cupboard’s doorframe with it, water spouted from the end. Rather than dripping onto the floor, however, Aaron guided the water into a flow of intricate rivulets. As the water wended over the surface, minerals crept along behind the receding trails and the wood slowly transformed.

  The process ate up a chunk of their allotted hour, but the druids were too fascinated with his work to try to hurry him. When Aaron finished, Huck immediately ran his hand over the still-damp surface. “It’s like stone,” he said.

  “Petrified,” Aaron said. “It would take a long time to do the whole thing. Right now, the minerals only cover the surface. But it should be enough to prevent your flows from burning through.”

  Flùranach fluttered around upstairs. Rory could sense her looking on him. Usually his dim perception of her wasn’t that strong, but right now she focused on him like a laser sight.

  “That’s amazing,” Huck said. “Perfect. What rune should I write?”

  Aaron thought for a moment. “We want to go to Amsterdam, right? You’ve spent more time there than the rest of us. So, you should inscribe the location, I think.”

  “Should I choose the nearest gate? The one in Germany? Or do we want to try to go someplace where a gate doesn’t yet exist?” He looked to the others for input.

  “We don’t really understand how to make a two-way gate,” Aaron said. “I have no clue if we need to build something on the other side and tune them together, or if the gate only exists in one place.”

  Douglas spoke up. “When I wrote the rune for the Isle of Skye, I’m pretty sure I connected to the gate already there. I couldn’t swear to it, though. I didn’t get a clear view.”

  “On the other hand,” Rory began, “the borderland gates are patrolled on the human side by fae Watchers. We’ll risk being seen by Konstanze’s people.”

  “You must connect to an existing gate. The structure will already possess the strong energies you need to transport bodies so far,” Lisle said. Everyone turned and looked at her, each face as stunned as the next.

  “How do you know?” Aaron said, his expression fluctuating between excited and suspicious.

  She shrugged. “I don’t.”

  Rory didn’t believe her. She knew something, all right. “It does seem the safest option,” he said. “What about Eilidh’s new gate in Belgium? If it’s not working, it probably won’t be guarded, and it’s a lot closer to Holland than England would be. We’ll need to rely on Flùranach to hide us from any Watchers we encounter in the borderlands.”

  Flùranach raced around upstairs, searching for Rory, pricking at his mind with her exuberance. She was driving him up a tree. “Will you excuse me?” he said to the group. No one replied. Their focus was firmly fixed on the stone-like frame of their new gate.

  “Right.” Huck took the stylus from Rory and picked a spot on the right-hand side to begin his inscription.

  By the time Rory ducked out and headed to the main corridor, Flùranach had reached the large stone staircase leading down to the spot where the druids were working. He stepped to the landing just as she scampered down. Her swirling eyes lit up when she saw him. “Lord Druid Munro said you needed me.” Her tone rang with hope.

  Rory stifled a sigh. That’s why she was so excited. She thought he needed her. “Let’s sit down somewhere,” he said, glancing around.

  He led her into a side room, one of the many small reception rooms dotted around the Hall. They’d built the Hall to house hundreds, so with their current compliment, the vast structure seemed strangely deserted. A cold fireplace sat on the far wall, and they took a pair of chairs in front of it. Flùranach leaned forward in her seat. “I came the instant I heard.”

  “Thank you,” he said, staring into the barren grate on the blackened stone. She was practically bouncing. What had her all aflutter? Surely the prospect of him taking her to the human realm again wouldn’t cause so much excitement. For some reason, it filled him with dread. “Do you have some news?” he guessed.

  She beamed. “Keeper Oszlár said I’ve handled the move to the Druid Hall better than expected.”

  “That’s great, Flùr,” Rory said. “Will you have to continue reporting to him?” Rory didn’t know exactly what those meetings would entail.

  “I don’t mind,” she said. “He told me something else.” She b
it her lip as though trying to decide whether to tell Rory or not.

  “Oh?”

  “He was…very encouraging. About us. About our bonding. And I understood his words meant you’d been considering what I said, that you had decided to forgive me and move forward.” She radiated happiness. “I’d been afraid to hope.” He opened his mouth to speak, wanting to slow her down. Where had Oszlár come up with all this?

  Before Rory had a chance to say a word, she blurted out, “I love you so much, Rory. I always have.” He knew what was coming next. The world moved in slow motion, and he felt like a crash victim whose life was flashing before his eyes. “Dem’ontar-che,” she whispered. The ancient words, proclaiming her love and commitment to the bond. Her presence wormed towards him as she touched the warped stub of his scarred inner-self.

  He hadn’t heard those words since she’d forced him to say them when she’d attacked him six months before. He reeled and an energy pulsed between them as the force of her pledge blinded him.

  Nothing could stop the horror coiling within. “What are you doing?” he said. “Sweet Jesus.” He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He’d tried so hard to move beyond the injuries of the past, but once again, she put what she wanted ahead of what he needed.

  “But…” For the first time, she seemed to grasp his reaction.

  “For fuck’s sake,” he gasped, struggling to breathe as his heart pounded.

  “But you told Lord Druid Munro you needed me.” Echoes of her pain and confusion rippled towards him through the half-formed bond.

  “I needed you to come to the human realm with us. To work. To use your illusions to protect us. Not this. You don’t listen. You hear what you want, and you always have.” Anger stormed in his chest. “You haven’t changed a bit.” He stood and stalked to the entryway. As furious as he was, he would be forced to deal with her. He refused to let his emotional state and Flùranach’s selfishness endanger Demi’s life. “Stay here until you’re called,” he commanded her. Meeting her eyes with intent, he added, “Don’t say a word about this to anyone. Not a soul.”