Celtic Rain (The Battle Raven Series) (6 page)

Lara pushed away from him when she noticed his arms were still holding her up.

“Look at that.” he whispered.

Lara and Kedryn’s eyes followed to where Aodhan was staring at the mist which formed an intricate pattern of Celtic knot work.

“It’s beautiful. Am I dreaming?” Lara asked.

“Not unless we are having the same dream. It looks like a web.” Kedryn said.

As the mist came to an end, the web started to grow brighter and a shadow became visible within. As the shadow darkened it formed the shape of a man.

“Eion!” Aodhan made his way to the web stopping just short a few feet from it. The spheres light shone brighter the closer he got.

Eion wearily raised his head looking relieved. “It’s about time. Blaine what took you so long?” His head dropped back down.

Aodhan tossed the Lapisphere at the web. It floated for a second and streaked to the web catching itself by the Druid’s side. The web begun to glow and even brighter blue.

Lara drew her eyes away from the web to Aodhan. “Blaine? Who’s that and how do we get him out? He doesn’t look too good. I’m not sure if he would make it back to the jeep.”

“We will not be going back. Blaine is my father and the Lapisphere will give Eion enough Druids light to strengthen him.”

Lara turned her attention back to Eion and was amazed that after a few short moments he looked better. She started walking toward the web. Her arm was suddenly snatched back. Lara ended up catching herself before falling back into Aodhan. Third time . . . not a charm, she thought.

Aodhan pulled her to him and whispered “You risk being caught in the web yourself. That is why I have only moved so far. As soon as Eion gathers enough strength he will break out of it.”

Just as he spoke of it the light of the web faded and Eion dropped to the ground. Aodhan ran to his side and carefully sat him up picking up Eion’s Lapisphere and handed it to him.

“My Lapisphere, thank you for returning it to me. The descendant is with you Blaine?”

Aodhan ignored the fact that Eion thought he was his father and
answered.

“Yes she is with me. Apologies for not getting here sooner. I was going to follow your trail first then sensed the others were behind me. Their goal was to get to the descendant. I decided to track down Lara through her parents and found her first.”

Aodhan flashed back to the short meeting with her father pretending that he was an old friend from Ireland. He thought he could pull it off with her parents with the accent and he did come from Ireland, in a roundabout sort of way. Aodhan was still puzzled as to why her father so easily gave out the information. He’ll have to look into that later. He studied Eion to make certain he truly was recovering.

“As soon as you are ready we have to leave this place. Faolan could still be out there somewhere.”

Eion looked at the man beside him and tried to shake the bleariness out of his head. When his eyes were less clouded he rubbed his beard and studied the man next to him.

“Your father? Aodhan? I suppose it has been that long. You have grown and look so much like him.” Eion rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear out the cobwebs.

“You were becoming a man when I left. It looks like your father ended up raising you as a tracker after all. I thought that Orla would have put an end to it.”

Eion sat up straighter and brushed some of the dirt off of his cloak and looked at Lara and Kedryn.

“I thought you would have had a harder time convincing her to join you.” He pulled his cloak tighter around him. “From what I observed she has the stubbornness of her ancestors in her.”

“Didn’t have much choice.” Lara said.

“I assume not. I have a few questions.” Eion said as he cleared his throat again. He looked to Kedryn who reached into his pack and grabbed some water out and gave it to Eion.

“Thank you. I am quite desperate for a drink.” Eion turned his attention back to Aodhan. “Did you say Liam? As in Tormey’s son? What does he have to do with this?” he let out a frustrated sigh. “I have been gone far too long.” Eion tried to stand up, swayed and sat back down.

Aodhan looked at him concerned “I will explain some now so that you can rest some?”

Eion adjusted his cloak tightly around him. “What events have I missed?”

“Lady Paili filled in for Lord Faolan when he disappeared. Whatever plans he had I am certain she followed through with them. No one would dare oppose her or she would send them to the altar. He knew what he was doing when he chose her.”

“Why are you here instead of Blaine?” asked Eion.

“I will give you the shortened version. Let me know when you feel you
have enough strength to translocate and get Lara out of here.”

Eion sipped at the water some more. “Do you have any food in there?” he asked and watched as Kedryn dug in the pack and pulled out a granola bar and gave it to him.

“Thank you again.” Eion said as he tore it open and took a bite. He motioned for Aodhan to continue on.

“Father was going to head through the portal to find you when he had not heard from you. That seems so long ago. You informed him that the descendant had been found and that you were watching her train. That he was not to worry about your Lapisphere. You were going to complete her training if the Seer’s vision came to pass. Knowing that you were ok he decided to hold off on going through the portal.”

Aodhan reached over and grabbed water out of Kedryn’s pack. “Many things happened since that time that had taken his mind off of the portal, you and the descendant. When the war started he realized how many years had passed since he last heard from you.”

“Many years.” Eion said pulling his cloak tight around him.

Stretching his legs out Aodhan took a drink. “Around eighteen years to be exact. Devlyn, Scanlon, Father and myself devised a plan to leave the second day during the seven day peace negotiations. We were hoping that Liam’s trackers would be too busy to follow and knew that Paili would send the Firbolg if she found out about the plans.”

Aodhan studied Eion “Are you ready? Or do you still need a little more time?”

“Just a smidgen more. How did Paili’s spies find out?”

“Scanlon took a little scouting trip and overheard that Paili’s spies had indeed found out about our plans. Her plan at that time was to send her Firbolg when we left. She wanted to make sure that Lara never came back through the portal and also to find out what happened to Faolan. All these years her main goal, besides ruling Laois, was to find his Druids Carnelian sphere and take it for herself.”

Eion shook his head. “All she really wants is power. Paili could care less about Faolan or the land of Laois. The banshee does not understand. Only
the Druid who the sphere belongs to is the one that receives and can use its ultimate power.”

Eion chuckled. “I would ask how he found out about Paili’s plans however I could picture him sneaking through the palace. I remember him as a sneaky, bright, and wiry little boy.”

Aodhan laughed at that. “Whenever one of mother’s pies disappeared. I knew it was him, he was clever enough not to get caught.”

“Yes, the pies. Orla knew it was him. It became a game between the both of them, and an inside joke with us all. I knew you would have a good influence on him.” Eion got to his feet and stretched. “I am almost ready. What happened next?”

“We ended up leaving sooner than planned. Scanlon took one last trip to
Laois and overheard one of Paili’s councilmen tell someone that she was sending out men right away to arrive at the cave before us. Father had planned on waiting but changed his mind. When we reached the cave he stayed behind to close it and if the others got there before he closed it he was going to stop or slow them down.”

Eion interrupted “Why did Scanlon and Devlyn not come with?”

“They were at the Duir Plain with General Ruark discussing our plan to leave at that time. Shortly after the war started father’s sickness escalated and no one, including myself, has been able to heal him. He was saving his strength for the trip and I stayed with him.” Aodhan had a look of anxiety that overwhelmed him that he quickly masked.

“How are you feeling now? I really think it’s about time we get out of here.”

Eion’s face filled with sympathy “I am disheartened to hear about your father. He is a good man.”

“As for Faolan, I do not think we will have to worry about him until we reach the Druids cave. I felt him leave this place and if I am correct he headed to the portal as soon as he sensed it had been reopened. He probably wanted to see if he could go back through. Although, I am not certain what will become of him as he reaches the other side.”

Aodhan picked up the pack Lara set down and handed it to her. “We have to get to the cave and risk translocating there. I was able to do it from Ireland to here to find Lara. No way was I going to stow away on a boat or one of those huge flying beasts.”

Aodhan looked at Eion’s disapproving expression on his face. “I know that the trackers can follow. I was in a hurry.”

“You did not think. You could have turned into a mist wraith yourself and this would have been all for nothing.” Aodhan stood looking down as Eion continued on. “You have taken a huge risk testing your powers here. I saw what using our power has done to Faolan after he spun the web around me. The rumors about what happened to Badb’s sisters are true. Faolan was nothing but a shadow and the only power he had was the use of his mind.”

Eion flipped his Lapisphere up in the air and caught it. He smacked Aodhan on the back and smiled at him to ease the tension in the air.

Aodhan raised his head and looked up at Eion. “Apologies.”

“Obviously there was no harm done. Your recklessness proved that we can translocate in this realm. I am pleased your father found my sphere. What a huge mistake that was leaving it behind. How long has the war been going on?”

“About a year now. There have been only skirmishes in the past year. Liam’s army has now pushed its way to the Duir plain. That is where the final battle will be and will begin after the Day of Rest if Liam does not agree to peace.” Aodhan said.

“What took so long for you to come through?” Eion asked

“First of all we had to wait for the Harvest moon. Also, father did not trust anyone else to go through the portal to find you and the descendant. I had to
crunch in years of what you had taught him into days. I memorized how to open the portal but closing it . . . not so much. Father barely made the journey to the cave. I should have tried to translocate us there.”

“Why didn’t you?” Kedryn asked

Aodhan shrugged “I have never tried it with a person before.”

Eion shifted and rubbed his beard. “If the Firbolg and Trackers translocated more than one person in this realm and continue to exist
we can
also
.”

“Kedryn and I will go first. I have Blarney castle fresh in my head still.” Aodhan ran his fingers through his hair and gave Kedryn a nervous glance.

“Did Blaine teach you to translocation with a bag or pack on your shoulders?”

“Yes.”

“You should not be concerned. Concentrate on the person, yourself and where you are going.” Eion said.

“How many in your realm are able to translocate?” Lara asked.

Eion reached up and scratched at the stubble growing on his chin. “Besides myself and Faolan I believe three. The power to translocate is a Druid trait. Although, while I was still deciphering the portal three boys had apparently inherited it. Aodhan was the first and the oldest. Like Aodhan the other two have a bit of Druid blood in them. One of Liam’s cousins, Niall, who I believe was two at the time gave his mother a fright the first time he translocated.”

“Can they heal too? And two years old?” said Lara

“The others can not heal. That is a trait Aodhan received from his mother along with the power of sensing of others. It is very rare that a child receives one. A gift of many was unheard of until Aodhan.”

Lara looked over at Aodhan and wondered what else he had
n
o
t told her. “The other?”

“Lady Paili’s brother Damon. I use the term lady loosely. He was a fine boy although I am certain his sister has influenced him by now. He is Nail’s age and both were at your house. Niall was the one who recognized me. A person is able to translocate up to possibly five people. However that has never been tried since it could seriously weaken or even kill the person doing it. Three is the most that one has tried.”

“That also explains the small numbers that came through. Just make sure that I come through with you, no inside out stuff or me turned around so I can see my arse. Ok.” Kedryn said.

Lara laughed out loud and she realized that all of them assumed that she had agreed to their crazy plan to go to Ireland. “Hang on. I haven’t agreed to anything. I’ve listened to all you both have said and am trying to see reason. If you think I’m just going to go with you.”

Kedryn watched as his mother took out her worry stone and started twirling it through her fingers. He looked down and realized he was doing the same and didn’t even realize it. He stopped and put it in his pocket and reassured his mother. “Nothing they have said is a lie. You are all about helping others.
This is huge. Life and death stuff and . . .”